Looking to find its way and pull boys in, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is getting a mid-week start here with previews yesterday grossing $3.85M. Showtimes started at 2PM for the Jeff Rowe-directed feature and the outlook is $30M over 5-days for the net $70M production. Some trackers have it at $40M. Mutant Mayheim is booked at 3,513 locations today and will expand to 3,851 theaters by Friday.
Given the Barbenheimer of it all, you gotta discount some of these movies in the marketplace. Tracking was bullish on Disney’s Haunted Mansion before opening with $30M-$40M; that was before they knew what Barbenheimer really was. That theme park ride movie opened to $24M, $200K shy of the 2003 version of the film which did $24.2M (unadjusted for inflation).
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, from Nickelodeon and Seth Rogen’s Point Grey, is looking to be the family choice for the long haul into the fall. The movie is the best reviewed animated feature of this year to date at 95% certified fresh next to Sony’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. The audience score is 94% currently for Mutant Mayhem. Props to Paramount: They were the only motion picture studio to brave San Diego Comic-Con sans stars and show off reels of the pic to a near full house in Hall H.
Warner Bros. has The Meg 2 opening this weekend, industry estimates are in the mid $20M range. The studio’s Barbie will dominate in its third weekend with around $55M-$60M.
Last weekend during Barbie‘s second frame, she blazed a record final weekend of July of $217M. Last August, Sony’s Bullet Train was the last huzzah before a dead August into October, that was left barren of marquee product due to the post production logjam caused by Covid. This August will be significantly better. The first weekend of August last year did $92M for all movies. Between Meg 2, Barbie, Oppenheimer and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles alone, this weekend is bound to be well north of $115M.
Yesterday Barbie led all movies with $15.25M, +2% from Monday, for a running total of $123.2M. She’ll cross the $400M mark on Thursday, on her 15th day in release, faster than the pacing of Top Gun: Maverick (18 days) and The Super Mario Bros Movie (18 days) to that domestic B.O. benchmark.