'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' holds off 'Expendables 3' at the box office
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Molly Driscoll Staff Writer
Neither older action stars nor the stars of 鈥�New Girl鈥� pretending to be policemen were enough to knock the summer hits 鈥�Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles鈥� and 鈥淕uardians of the Galaxy鈥� off the first and second spots at the box office, respectively.聽
鈥淭urtles鈥� came in at number one at the box office this past weekend for the second time 鈥� last week it had come out on top ahead of the Marvel hit 鈥淕uardians of the Galaxy.鈥� This weekend, 鈥淭urtles鈥� grossed more than $28 million, according to , while 鈥淕uardians鈥� took in more than $24 million.聽
Meanwhile, the movie 鈥淟et鈥檚 Be Cops,鈥� which stars Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr., placed third with a gross of more than $17 million. 鈥�The Expendables 3鈥� was behind 鈥淐ops鈥� with a gross of more than $16 million.
鈥淭he Giver,鈥� the film adaptation of the classic dystopian novel by Lois Lowry, came in at fifth place, grossing more than $12 million.
Neither 鈥淐ops,鈥� 鈥淓xpendables,鈥� or 鈥淕iver鈥� was particularly well-reviewed 鈥� Monitor film critic Peter Rainer called 鈥淕iver鈥� 鈥渦nduly do-goody鈥� It鈥檚 pretty drab anyway. The movie never really sheds its chilly聽Orwellian vibe, and its chief idea 鈥� that only The Giver and Jonas can聽truly feel 鈥� is contradicted by the supposedly blanked-out citizens who, in聽fact, appear to have feelings indeed, albeit nasty ones.聽Philip Noyce, who has directed some marvelous movies (鈥淭he Quiet聽American,鈥� 鈥淩abbit-Proof Fence鈥�) does his best to give this hoo-ha some聽snap, but he鈥檚 mired in the film鈥檚 pretensions.鈥�
The film scored the highest out of the three on the review aggregator website , with 鈥溾�� holding a score of 46 out of 100. 鈥溾�� only garnered a score of 35 and 鈥溾�� received a score of 27.聽
聽鈥淭urtles鈥� wasn鈥檛 well-reviewed, either 鈥� reviewer Sandie Angulo Chen called it 鈥渇un鈥� also forgettable鈥� and critic Claudia Puig found it to be 鈥渃harmless, dull, and derivative鈥� 鈥� yet the film is still king of the box office. Second-place finisher 鈥淕uardians鈥� was much more well-received, with Associated Press writer Jake Coyle finding it to have a 鈥渨elcome, slightly self-mocking tone鈥� and calling the casting of actor Chris Pratt 鈥渋nspired,鈥� though Coyle also found the movie to be 鈥渙verstuffed鈥� and the comedy to be 鈥渨eak.鈥�
