Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows debuted to a disappointing $35.3 million over the weekend, becoming the latest sequel this year to perform below expectations.
The pizza-munching reptiles’ opening weekend was half of the $65.6 million that its predecessor, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, kicked off to in 2014, illustrating that not all franchises are created equal.
Several film series have struggled to attract crowds in recent months, with Alice Through the Looking Glass and The Huntsman: Winter’s War losing many millions.
Other sequels and spinoffs, such as Kung Fu Panda 3 and X-Men: Apocalypse failed to match the grosses of previous installments. “
Captain America: Civil War, which plays more like an Avengers chapter than a star-spangled follow-up, did beat the slump, earning over $1.1 billion globally.
Paramount spent $135 million on the latest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and released the picture across 4,071 locations.
It now depends on foreign audiences to try to bolster the underwhelming domestic returns.
The film opened in 40 international markets, including Russia, Mexico and the UK, earning $34 million, and there are still several major territories left to open, such as China on July 2.
The second Ninja Turtles played younger, with 51% of the opening weekend crowd coming in under 25 years old as opposed to 45% for the first picture.
The return of the turtles knocked X-Men: Apocalypse from the top spot on the stateside charts. The superhero sequel slid more than 65% in its second weekend to earn $22.3 million for a second place finish. The latest “X-Men” has earned $116.5 million since debuting over Memorial Day.
In third place, New Line and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer scored with the modestly budgeted Me Before You. The story concerns a caregiver (Emilia Clarke from “Game of Thrones”) who falls in love with a paralyzed millionaire (Sam Claflin).
The picture opened to a solid $18.3 million. Shot for just over $20 million and based on Jojo Moyes’ best-seller of the same name, Me Before You appealed to women. who comprised more than 80% of the opening weekend audience.
The weekend’s other new release, the music parody Popstar: Never Stop Never Stoppin, collapsed at the box office, scraping together $4.6 million from 2,311 locations. Universal spent $21 million on the mockumentary, which stars Andy Samberg as a Justin Bieber-like music prodigy and reunites the comedian with his Lonely Island partners.
The musicians are best known for their work on “Saturday Night Live,” where they composed such viral favorites as “Dick in a Box” and “I’m on a Boat.”
Popstar was set to develop a cult following on home entertainment platforms, much as This Is Spinal Tap was embraced on video.
“Films like this can have a long tail through the revenue chains,” said Nick Carpou, Universal’s domestic distribution head.
