Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy stormed back to the top of the box office, becoming the biggest movie of summer 2014. In the process, the film left all three of this weekend’s new releases in the dust. If I Stay, Sin City: A Dame To Kill For and When The Game Stands Tall all fell far short of already modest expectations.
Guardians dropped 30 percent from its previous week and only grossed $17.6 million. Still, that was enough to beat everything else, including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. According to Box Office Mojo, Guardians is now up to $251 million, passing Transformers: Age of Extinction as the biggest movie of the summer.
It also stands a chance at topping Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which was released back in April. That film is currently the top-grossing movie of the year, with $259.8 million.
TMNT also tumbled, but its $16.8 million this weekend was enough to earn second place.
If Guardians needed less than $20 million to win this weekend, just how badly did the new releases do? In a word: horrendous.
If I Stay with Chloe Grace Moretz was no The Fault in Our Stars, only grossing $16.4 million, notes The Hollywood Reporter. The A- CinemaScore grade from audiences might help it, but New Line and MGM have to be incredibly disappointed. After all, it was expected to be No. 1 with around $20 million. That didn’t happen. At least it only cost $11 million to make.
Let’s Be Cops took the No. 4 slot with $11 million. When The Game Stands Tall, Sony’s faith-based football movie, only made $9 million. The Giver added just $6.7 million in its second weekend.
The sad story of the weekend was The Weinstein Company’s Sin City 2, which only made $6.5 million. Clearly, waiting nine years to make a sequel is a bad idea. It’s not known exactly how much this one cost, but THR reports that it might be around $60 million.
The Expendables 3 added $6.6 million.
image courtesy of Peter West/ACE/INFphoto.com