'Turtles' tops again, beats 'Guardians' at North American box office

[August 18, 2014]  By Ronald Grover and Chris Michaud

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK (Reuters) - "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," last weekend's most popular film, collected ticket sales of $28.4 million to top the U.S. and Canadian box office rankings for a second consecutive week, beating" Guardians of the Galaxy" in a battle of superhero misfits.

"Guardians of the Galaxy," which has collected $419 million worldwide since it opened on Aug. 1, had domestic ticket sales of $24.7 million, according to estimates from tracking firm Rentrak.

"Let's Be Cops," an R-rated action comedy starring Jake Johnson and Daman Wayans Jr. pretending to be Los Angeles police officers, collected $17.7 million to open in third place, ahead of another newcomer, action film "The Expendables 3," which took in $16.2 million and stars Sylvester Stallone.

"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," a reboot of the series that began in 1980s comic books, stars Megan Fox, Will Arnett and Whoopi Goldberg. Special effects-loving producer Michael Bay oversaw the film, which cost an estimated $125 million to make.

The hit film added another $25.6 million from international markets for a global total of $185 million, according to Paramount Pictures, the Viacom Inc unit that released it.
 

The "Turtles" movie features a fictional team of four anthropomorphic teenage turtles who were trained in martial arts. From their home in the storm sewers of New York City, they battle petty criminals and others to protect society.

"Guardians of the Galaxy," the latest film distributed by Walt Disney Co based on its stable of Marvel characters, stars Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana as galactic warriors who lead a rag-tag band of heroes including a talking raccoon and a human-like tree.

"Let's Be Cops," made for a modest $17 million, was helped by playing especially strongly in the West and Midwest, according to the 20th Century Fox studio, the unit of 21st Century Fox that distributed it.

"This movie was made for a younger audience, and the younger the audience, the more they liked it," noted Chris Aronson, 20th Century Fox's president of domestic distribution.

In addition to starring in "The Expendables 3", Stallone wrote the story of a mercenary group that takes on a ruthless arms dealer. He is joined by an ensemble of action stars including Dolph Lundgren, Mel Gibson, Wesley Snipes and Harrison Ford. Lions Gate Entertainment Corp released the movie.

"The Giver" landed in the No. 5 spot with $12.8 million. The fantasy drama stars Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep in the story of a futuristic society in which a 16-year-old is chosen to be the receiver of its past memories.

The film, released by The Weinstein Company, garnered less-than-warm reviews, getting a "fresh" rating from only 35 percent of critics on the site Rotten Tomatoes.

(Reporting By Ronald Grover and Chris Michaud; editing by Jason Neely and Cynthia Osterman)

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