LOS ANGELES, June 5 -- A pair of franchise tent-pole sequels sat atop at box office derby this weekend in the United States and Canada: "Ninja turtles" and "X-men".
As the first weekend in June, when most schools will have their summer break, the two big films no doubt opened the summer competition among tens of upcoming movies.
Paramount's "Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of The Shadows" debuted in the number one spot, with an estimated 35.25 million U.S. dollars in three-day weekend at 4,071 locations in North America.
The "Ninja Turtles" sequel faces a 46 percent drop from the 2014 film's 65.5 million dollars opening. And the sequel spends 135 million dollars to make, which is 10 million dollars more than the first one.
"Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of The Shadows" received an "A-" score from first-night moviegoers on CinemaScore, meanwhile the critics gave it only 35 percent of approval rate on RottenTomatoes. The film attracted more young audience, among which the moviegoers under the age of 18 made up 40 percent of the total audience. 52 percent of the audience was under 25. Male and female audience split up to 54 percent and 48 percent.
The "Ninja Turtles" sequel also opened in other 40 international markets and grossed 34 million dollars, according to Box Office Mojo.
"X-Men: Apocalypse" was second, in its second week of exhibition, with an estimated 22.3 million dollars this weekend from 4,153 theaters, dropping 66 percent from its opening weekend.
"X-Men: Apocalypse" grossed over 116 million dollars in North America in first ten days, and grought in an estimated 286 million internationally. Only in this weekend, China market contributed over 59 million dollars.
Another premiere, Warner Bro.'s "Me Before You," was third, with an 18.3 million dollars debut. Audience ranked the film an "A" score on CinemaScore and the critics gave it 56 percent positive rating.
Rounding out the rest 10 most-popular movies this week were "Alice Through The Looking Glass" (10.7 million dollars), "The Angry Birds Movie" (9.8 million), "Captain America: Civil War" (7.6 million), "Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising" (4.7 million), "Popstar: Never Stop Stopping" (4.6 million), "The Jungle Book" (4.2 million) and "The Nice Guys" (3.5 million).
