(Left to right) Raphael, Michelangelo, Donatello and Loenardo in a scene from the movie, 'TMNT'. - Contributed
LOS ANGELES (AP):
The ninja turtles mutated into gold at the box office.
The Warner Bros. adventure TMNT, a computer-animated update of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics, cartoons and 1990s live-action movies, debuted as the top weekend flick with $25.45 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Warner Bros. also had the second-place movie with its hit 300, which had been the No. 1 film the previous two weekends. The battle epic set in ancient Greece took in $20.5 million, lifting its total to $162.4 million.
Paramount's Shooter, starring Mark Wahlberg as an ex-Marine sniper framed for a presidential assassination, led the runners-up among a rush of new movies, opening at No. 3 with $14.5 million.
New Line's family fantasy The Last Mimzy premiered in fifth place with $10.2 million. The movie centres on a brother and sister who discover a mysterious box of toys and are endowed with superhuman powers to help them preserve humanity's future.
Fox Atomic's horror sequel The Hills Have Eyes 2, about National Guard troops who stumble on a clan of mutant cannibals in the desert, opened at No. 7 with $10 million.
Soft debut
Adam Sandler had a soft debut for his latest dramatic detour, the post-September 11 drama Reign Over Me, which came in at No. 8 with $8 million. The Sony release features Sandler as a lost soul whose family died in the September 11 attacks, with Don Cheadle co-starring as an old friend helping him to reconnect with the world.
Lionsgate's sports tale Pride, starring Terrence Howard and Bernie Mac in the story of a coach who starts a swim team for impoverished black youths in the 1970s, opened with $4 million to come in at No. 9.
Standings last year
Hollywood continued a recent business upswing, with the top-12 movies taking in $125.7 million. That is up 28 per cent from the same weekend last year, when Inside Man debuted at No. 1 with $29 million.
The upward trend likely will end next weekend. New movies that include Will Ferrell's comedy Blades of Glory and the animated feature Meet the Robinsons will have a hard time matching up to Ice Age: The Meltdown, which opened with $68 million over the first weekend in April last year.
"We're on a roll and on an upstreak right now, but it's going to be a real tough comparison for this weekend," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers LLC.
TMNT follows the escapades of four hip turtles who mutate into man-sized reptiles and use their martial-arts mastery to fight bad guys.
"It's sequel time dudes," said Harvey Weinstein, co-chairman of the Weinstein Co., which is distributing TMNT overseas. "We knew from the inception of this project that the TMNT characters would continue to resonate with audiences across the world."
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at United States and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. TMNT, $25.45 million.
2. 300, $20.5 million .
3. Shooter, $14.5 million.
4. Wild Hogs, $14.4 million .
5. The Last Mimzy, $10.2 million.
6. Premonition, $10.1 million.
7. The Hills Have Eyes 2, $10 million.
8. Reign Over Me, $8 million.
9. Pride, $4 million.
10. Dead Silence, $3.5 million.
