'Ninja Turtles' sweeps box office, confounds critics
Studio estimates say "Teenage Mutant聽Ninja聽Turtles" sliced off $65 million at the weekend box office.
The Paramount comic-book adaptation featuring Megan Fox alongside computer-generated renditions of the pizza-eating, sewer-dwelling superheroes lunged into first place in its debut weekend.
The studio announced plans Sunday for a sequel scheduled for June 3, 2016.
Marvel's cosmic romp "Guardians of the Galaxy" starring Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana as members of an intergalactic band of do-gooders slid into second place in its second weekend, with $41.5 million, bringing its total domestic haul to $175.9 million.
The Warner Bros. disaster film "Into the Storm" touched down in third place with $18 million.
The ninjas in a half shell were largely panned by critics, the Monitor reported听贵谤颈诲补测.
Los Angeles Times reviewer聽Mark Olsen also found that the movie focused too much on Megan Fox's character and "鈥渢he turtles often feel left in the background of their own movie.鈥�
聽critic Claudia Puig called the film 鈥渃harmless, dull and derivative.鈥�
