Jungle

Box Office: Guardians of the Galaxy back on top

Guardians soared once more. Stay seemed to linger reasonably enough, while Sin City suffered a bad time of it, enduring the sort of punishment that feels like you’re being hit in the face by a concrete slab. All in all, an interesting weekend at the US box office.

The big winner was Marvel’s Guardians Of The Galaxy, which roared back to the top of the charts after spending a couple of weeks in second place, and that despite being out in cinemas for a month now. Clearly audiences were ready for more from Star-Lord and the gang and the space oddities are now enjoying the highest domestic gross for any film at the US box office in 2014 (Transformers: Age Of Extinction clings to the worldwide top spot like a robot with a locked servo). Guardians took in $17.6 million this weekend, pushing it to $251.8 million in the States and $489.4 million globally.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was pushed down to second place after a couple of weeks at the top, earning $16.8 million this weekend for $145 million in total. It kept the first of this week’s new arrivals, novel adaptation If I Stay from breaking the top two, with Chloe Moretz’ latest launching third with $16.3 million. Comedy romp Let’s Be Cops proved resilient, falling one place to fourth with $11 million, ahead of another new arrival, true-life football tale When The Game Stands Tall, which was tackled by some bad reviews and seeming lack of interest for $9 million in fifth. The Giver was shoved to sixth, earning $6.7 million, while The Expendables 3 continued to under perform, falling to seventh with $6.6 million and $27.5 million in total from the US.

By far the biggest loser this weekend was Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller’s return to the splashy noir of Sin City with A Dame To Kill For. Despite figuring that nine years might lead to pent-up demand for the sequel, the directors have been proved badly wrong, as moviegoers largely ignored the second serving of pulp graphic novel-spawned melodrama. At Comic-Con, Rodriguez and Miller voiced hope that success with the sequel might drive a third film – it’s a thought that seems even more out of reach now.

At ninth we find The Hundred-Foot Journey, with the gentle culinary comedy drama taking in $5.5 million ahead of tornado thriller Into The Storm, which whipped up $3.8 million in 10th place.