Box Office Report: Turtles fight off competitors to retain top spot

There was hardly any room for competition this past weekend as worldwide hit Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was officially released after a couple of weeks of advanced screenings. The film had a huge opening weekend, taking in $4.37 million at the Australian box office. The film has received decent if not stellar reviews (such as ours, which you can read here) and has also been a major hit in the US. The strength and popularity of the Ninja Turtles brand will ensure that the film plays well for the next few weeks at least.

Coming in at second place was thriller Into the Storm, which took in just under a million in its second weekend. Word of mouth has not been kind to the film, and it will likely drop quite rapidly in the coming weeks. You can read our review of the film here. The other major debuts for the weekend, dance sequel Step Up: All In (check out our review here) and Young Adult adaptation The Giver took third and fifth place respectively, with the latter unable to overtake the phenomenally popular Guardians of the Galaxy. Guardians has been playing strong for many weeks now, and just became the first film of the year to hit the US$300 million mark at the US domestic box office. The film will face worldwide competition later in the year from upcoming sure hits Interstellar and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1, but the comic book hit is currently the top US domestic grosser of the year. Animated spin-off Planes: Fire & Rescue just managed to crack the chart, taking in $276,794 in advanced screenings ahead of its official opening this week. Read our review here.

This week is a ridiculously busy one, with five major new releases (including the previously mentioned Planes: Fire & Rescue)competing for your time and money. The first is Robert Rodriguez’ nine-years-in-the-making Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, the long awaited sequel to the 2005 surprise hit. The film has been met with a lack of enthusiasm upon its recent US release, with the film failing to make anywhere near the amount of the original. You can read our review here. Also releasing is yet another Young Adult film, an adaptation of James Dashner’s The Maze Runner. The film has been getting some positive early word, so let’s hope that it bucks the recent trend of underwhelming and bland Young Adult sci-fi films. Families will be able to check out The Boxtrolls, a stop-motion animated film from the makers of Coraline and ParaNorman. Last but not least is Zach Braff’s follow-up to his well-received 2004 directorial debut Garden State, which should be a solid option for the art house crowd.

All figures from The Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia and Box Office Mojo.

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