‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Open In 1st; Sequel Announced

Paramount’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles opened with an estimated $65 million in the United States. The Jonathan Liebesman-directed film, whose four main characters are motion capture CGI animation, didn’t reach the heights of last weekend’s $94.3 million debut for Guardians of the Galaxy, but it handily beat the $24.3 million debut of the 2007 Turtles film TMNT. The performance was good enough that this morning Paramount announced a Turtles sequel planned for release on June 3, 2016.

The Turtles were followed in second place by Guardians of the Galaxy, which pulled in an estimated $41.5 million in its second weekend, boostings its total to $175.9 million. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes took ninth place in its fifth weekend, with $4.4 million and a domestic total of $197.8 million. Planes: Fire & Rescue has plummeted quickly, and ranked 10th with $2.4 million and overall $53 million.

After nine weeks in theaters, How to Train Your Dragon 2 has grossed just over $170 million in the U.S., almost $50 million less than the original. Meanwhile, the fim scored an additional $12.2 million from foreign territories last weekend for an international total of $319.4 million. That pushes its global gross to $489.5M, which is just shy of the original’s $494.9M. The sequel will surpass the original film this week.