Paramount’s Ninja Turtles sequel, Out of the Shadows, opened with a solid $2 million on Thursday preview screenings at about 3,000 U.S. sites
Warner’s romantic drama Me Before You took in $1.4 million.
Universal’s Andy Samberg comedy Popstar underperformed with $322,000 on Thursday.
Directed by Dave Green from a script by Josh Appelbaum and André Nemec, Out of the Shadows stars the terrapins along with Megan Fox, Stephen Amell, Will Arnett, Brian Tee, Tyler Perry and Laura Linney.
The tale centers on how the turtles come into conflict with Perry’s evil Dr. Baxter Stockman.
Out of the Shadows, a sequel to 2014’s surprise hit Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, is expected to win the weekend with $35 million to $40 million range at 4,071 locations, about half of the original’s $65.6 million opening take.
The original film earned $4.6 million in previews on its way to a $195 million domestic gross and $493.2 million worldwide.
Out of the Shadows has been pegged to top Fox’s second weekend of X-Men: Apocalypse, which should pull in more than $25 million at 4,153 sites. Apocalypse had topped $90 million domestically as of Wednesday.
New Line and MGM’s Me Before You, starring Emilia Clarke of “Game of Thrones” and Sam Claflin from “Hunger Games,” is expected to make about $15 million at 2,704 locations. That may be enough to take third place over Disney’s second weekend of “Alice Through the Looking Glass” at 3,763 sites.
Popstar, starring Samberg’s rock parody group, the Lonely Island, carries low expectations with a forecast of $6 million at 2,310 sites
