Guardians is top film of summer

Actor Bradley Cooper does the voice of Rocket Raccoon in Guardians of the Galaxy. The movie climbed back into first place at last weekend’s box office and made $17.2 million.
Actor Bradley Cooper does the voice of Rocket Raccoon in Guardians of the Galaxy. The movie climbed back into first place at last weekend’s box office and made $17.2 million.

Walt Disney Co.'s Guardians of the Galaxy, the new group of movie superheroes mined from Marvel's comic-book lineup, officially became Hollywood elite as stars of this year's biggest summer film in the United States.

Guardians of the Galaxy, released Aug. 1, took in $17.2 million over the weekend to lead in U.S. and Canadian theaters, Rentrak Corp. said Sunday, vaulting past Transformers: Age of Extinction, which had been No. 1. Guardians, about a lesser-known group of misfit Marvel characters, has generated $251.4 million in domestic ticket sales as of the weekend, making it No. 1 for the season.

"The self-deprecating humor and quirky cast of characters in Guardians of the Galaxy make it an irresistibly entertaining and fun summer ride," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior analyst at Rentrak Corp. That, along with the classic rock soundtrack, have made it the cool movie to see in the late summer.

The tally caps another strong performance for Disney and its Marvel division, which last year had the biggest hit of the summer with Iron Man 3, and led the 2012 season with The Avengers. The studio boasts the biggest U.S. hit so far of 2014 as well, with Captain America: The Winter Soldier, released on April 4. That film has earned $259.8 million in domestic theaters, and $714.1 million worldwide.

Transformers, from Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures, has produced $243.8 million in domestic ticket sales. Released on June 27, the film took in $385,000 over the weekend, according to Rentrak.

Worldwide, Transformers is still the top movie for the summer and for the year, with $1.05 billion in global revenue, according to Box Office Mojo. Guardians has $489.5 million in worldwide sales and is unlikely to catch up.

While the international box office makes up a growing portion of film revenue, the U.S. audience remains the largest market. The sales that studios receive for movies in the home-entertainment market -- cable TV showings, DVDs and movie downloads, for example -- closely follow the domestic box office, and are in some cases tied directly to ticket sales.

Studios also keep a bigger share of U.S. ticket sales than in some other markets. In China, where Transformers has grossed more than $300 million, according to Box Office Mojo, Hollywood gets less than a quarter of the box-office proceeds. That compares with 50 percent or more in the states.

Officials at Disney, based in Burbank, Calif., and Paramount, declined to comment.

With Guardians, Marvel brought a scrappy, less-known group of comic-book heroes to cinemas, with an eye toward developing a new film series. The studio spent $170 million making the movie, according to Box Office Mojo. A sequel is planned for 2017, Disney said.

Chris Pratt, known for NBC's Parks & Recreation sitcom, stars as Peter Quill, an American pilot who becomes the target of an unrelenting bounty hunt in space. He's pursued after stealing a mysterious orb coveted by the super-villain Ronan, played by Lee Pace, star of AMC's Halt and Catch Fire.

Three movies made their debuts over the weekend.

If I Stay, a Warner Bros. drama starring Chloe Grace Moritz, came in third at the box office with $15.6 million. The widely panned movie, adapted from a novel by Gayle Forman about a cellist whose life changes after a car accident, missed the $19.5 million forecast of BoxOffice.com.

Columbia's sports drama When the Game Stands Tall took in $8.38 million in its first weekend, placing fifth.

The movie charts the career of football coach Bob Ladouceur, who took the De La Salle High School Spartans of Concord, Calif., on a 151-game winning streak. It was projected to collect $11 million, and was received unfavorably by critics, generating a 19 percent positive rating on Rottentomatoes.com.

Also making its debut was Frank Miller's Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, distributed by Weinstein Co. It placed eighth, generating $6.3 million. That's less than the $15 million it was forecast to make.

A follow up to the 2005 movie Sin City, it stars Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba and Eva Green and reunites co-directors Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller. The film draws on Miller's Sin City graphic novels, introducing new tales about the town's inhabitants.

The summer season runs from the start of May through the U.S. Labor Day holiday, which is Monday. Producing hits during this period is critical for studios, which generate about 40 percent of their annual box-office revenue when children are on school break.

Overall, the summer season has been a disappointment. Domestic ticket sales were down 15 percent, to $3.88 billion, from the year-earlier period, according to Rentrak. Some studios shifted film releases to avoid conflict with the World Cup soccer championship from mid-June to mid-July.

Others released clunkers like Edge of Tomorrow, from Warner Bros. The Tom Cruise film cost $178 million to make, according to Box Office Mojo, and brought in $99.8 million in domestic sales.

Delays also played a role. Disney's Pixar division pushed back the release of The Good Dinosaur until November 2015 because the film wasn't ready, while Universal Pictures postponed Fast & Furious 7 until next year after the death of actor Paul Walker in a car accident.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Rentrak, are:

  1. Guardians of the Galaxy, Disney, $17,202,212, 3,371 locations, $5,103 average, $251,456,069, four weeks.

  2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Paramount, $16,725,447, 3,864 locations, $4,329 average, $145,535,253, three weeks.

  3. If I Stay, Warner Bros., $15,679,190, 2,907 locations, $5,394 average, $15,679,190, one week.

  4. Let's Be Cops, 20th Century Fox, $10,810,533, 3,140 locations, $3,443 average, $45,056,701, two weeks.

  5. When the Game Stands Tall, Columbia, $8,381,509, 2,673 locations, $3,136 average, $8,381,509, one week.

  6. The Expendables 3, Lionsgate, $6,485,385, 3,221 locations, $2,013 average, $27,403,562, two weeks.

  7. The Giver, The Weinstein Co., $6,434,240, 3,003 locations, $2,143 average, $23,804,778, two weeks.

  8. Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, The Weinstein Co., $6,317,683, 2,894 locations, $2,183 average, $6,317,683, one week.

  9. The Hundred-Foot Journey, Disney, $5,339,006, 1,944 locations, $2,746 average, $32,527,210, three weeks.

  10. Into the Storm, Warner Bros., $3,803,309, 2,375 locations, $1,601 average, $38,304,693, three weeks.

  11. Lucy, Universal, $3,463,590, 1,768 locations, $1,959 average, $113,698,860, five weeks.

  12. Boyhood, IFC Films, $1,653,667, 723 locations, $2,287 average, $16,315,715, seven weeks.

  13. Magic in the Moonlight, Columbia Pictures Classics, $1,211,276, 787 locations, $1,539 average, $6,700,601, five weeks.

  14. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, 20th Century Fox, $1,076,581, 733 locations, $1,469 average, $203,937,551, seven weeks.

  15. Get on Up, Universal, $932,595, 579 locations, $1,611 average, $28,697,585, four weeks.

  16. A Most Wanted Man, Roadside Attractions, $853,510, 433 locations, $1,971 average, $14,043,499, five weeks.

  17. Hercules, Paramount, $849,796, 622 locations, $1,366 average, $69,936,092, five weeks.

  18. Step Up All In, Lionsgate, $724,072, 948 locations, $764 average, $13,688,120, three weeks.

  19. What If, CBS Films, $668,855, 680 locations, $984 average, $2,221,309, three weeks.

  20. Maleficent, Disney, $591,073, 344 locations, $1,718 average, $237,602,294, 13 weeks.

MovieStyle on 08/29/2014

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