It looks like Megan Fox may have been right.
According to Deadline , Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles slashed its way into theaters; analysts believe it could earn an estimated $58 million to $61 million this weekend. Last weekend’s juggernaut, Guardians of the Galaxy , could fall 55 percent to approximately $42 million by best estimates as of 10:50 pm PDT last night.
The notion that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will easily swipe the top box office spot from Guardians of the Galaxy in a single week is a shocker to experts, since Guardians broke the record for an August opening only seven days ago.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr , Megan Fox, the star of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles , gave a recent interview where she derided the “haters” of the film, saying everyone would see it. She cited Transformers: Age of Extinction as an example, and then had some harsh words for critics.
“Let me tell you something about those people. How much money did ‘Transformers 4’ make? Exactly. Those people can complain — they all go to the theater. They’re gonna love it — and if they don’t love it, they can f*** off, and that’s the end of it.”
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles star apparently hit the nail on the head. People are seeing it, and in large numbers. The primary demographic for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is 25 to 35 year olds — those young men who either read the comic book or watched the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon on Saturday mornings growing up. Again, experts had predicted that the 25 to 35 year-old male demographic wouldn’t be enough to topple Guardians of the Galaxy this weekend, but they were wrong.
The Australian release of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles also encountered issues last week when a poster for the film was put out on the internet — a poster that can best be described as being in “bad taste.” The poster featured the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles jumping out of an exploding skyscraper. No problem there, but what was put at the bottom of the poster was the film’s release date in Australia: 9/11. Fans immediately spoke out online, saying that the image in conjunction with 9/11 was eerily reminiscent of the terrorist attacks in New York in 2001. According to Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald , Michael Bay, the producer of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was furious.
“When I woke up and saw that, I said, ‘Are you kidding me?’ That was a silly, dumb mistake. Trust me — I yelled at them. Normally, everything goes through me, and no one showed me that poster.”
Despite the doubters, Megan Fox and Michael Bay are currently headed for the top of the weekend box office with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles .
[Image via Flicks and Bits ]