|
 "Guardians," which also became the highest-grossing movie of
the summer season, sold $17.6 million worth of tickets at U.S.
and Canadian theaters for the three days starting on Friday.
"Turtles" took in $16.8 million in its third weekend to take
second place. "If I Stay," a new release about a 17-year-old in
a coma and clinging to life, was third with $16.4 million.
But "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For," the new, stylized sequel to
the 2005 film based on Frank Miller's graphic novel series,
landed in a distant No. 8 spot with just $6.5 million.
"Guardians of the Galaxy," which features a machine-gun-shooting
raccoon and other extraterrestrial misfits, has now collected
$252 million since opening on Aug. 1, according to movie
tracking site Rentrak, making it the summer's biggest box-office
hit, surpassing “Transformers: Age of Extinction.”
"The momentum has been very strong throughout the run," said
Walt Disney Studios' head of distribution Dave Hollis, "starting
with our opening which was much bigger than we anticipated."
Hollis said positive word-of-mouth and repeat viewership was
helping drive the box office for a film that also features
"great characters and a spectacular story."
"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," which opened on Aug. 8, has
taken in more than $145 million at North American (U.S. and
Canadian) box offices.
Based on a novel by young adult author Gayle Forman, No. 3 film
"If I Stay" stars Chloe Grace Moretz as a girl who has an out of
body experience after a catastrophic car accident.
Made for a modest $11 million, the film received mixed reviews
from critics, getting only 33 "fresh" reviews out of 81
according to the site Rotten Tomatoes, and fell shy of industry
estimates for a $21 million opening weekend.
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"We're happy coming in right where we did," said Dan Fellman,
president of domestic distribution for Warner Brothers, a unit of
Time Warner Inc. The movie was financed by Warner Brothers and MGM,
which produced the film.
"We're going into the (Labor Day) holiday weekend in good shape,"
Fellman added, noting the movie received an A- rating from its
audience according to CinemaScore and was playing especially well in
the South and Midwest.
The R-rated comedy "Lets Be Cops" took in $11 million for fourth
place, while "When the Game Stands Tall," a low-budget football film
that chronicles De La Salle High School's record-setting 151-game
winning streak, opened in fifth with $9.1 million. It follows weak
openings by sport-themed films like "Million Dollar Arm" and "Draft
Day."
Director Robert Rodriguez' "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For" features
the same stark black-and-white cinematography as 2005's "Sin City,"
which generated $74.1 million in sales including $29 million in its
opening weekend, according to Box Office Mojo.
The sequel saw mixed reviews with a 44 score from the site
Metacritic, with 22 mixed reviews out of 36 tallied, and fell far
short of expectations for an opening around $16.5 million.
"Sin City: A Dame to Kill For" was released by The Weinstein
Company. "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" was distributed by Viacom
Inc's Paramount Pictures. TriStar Pictures, a unit of Sony,
distributed "When the Game Stands Tall."
(Reporting By Ronald Grover and Chris Michaud; Editing by Robin
Pomeroy and Andrea Ricci)
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