The 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' sequel tops a soft weekend box office
"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows," the sequel to the 2014 CGI-heavy original that earned around $450 million worldwide, took in an estimated $35.3 million over the weekend, according to The Wrap.
That may have won the weekend for Paramount, but the sequel made around 49% less than the original's opening weekend, which took in $65.5 million.
The major shift since the original was Paramount's marketing, which went from plugging into the nostalgic Gen Xers who grew up on the popular cartoons of the late 1980s to focusing more on today's kids for the release of "Out of the Shadows."
As the summer progresses we'll see if the studio's choice to go more kid friendly pays off as it could be the counter to more of the adult blockbusters on the horizon.
The movie that exceeded all expectations is the Emilia Clarke tear-jerker "Me Before You," which took in $18.2 million. Proving that audiences still love to go see good romance stories with attractive leads, the movie comes in third place this weekend and could be a sleeper hit of the summer as word-of-mouth (and females making up 81% of the opening weekend audience) will certainly help it in the coming weeks.
Universal went the digital/social media marketing route instead of traditional TV spots to grab the attention of the fan base for this mockumentary look at the popstar lifestyle that is basically a "This Is Spinal Tap" for Millennials. But it seems that wasn't enough to get the film even in the top five this weekend (it came in seventh).
It also wasn't a good weekend for "X-Men: Apocalypse." After winning the Memorial Day weekend last week (but only $80 million), the film dropped 66% in its second weekend, earning just $22 million.
The Hollywood box office has taken a few direct hits the past few weekends. Don't expect things getting any better next weekend with not-so-hyped titles "Now You See Me 2" and "Warcraft" coming out.