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'Ninja Turtles' sweeps box office, confounds critics

'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' raked in $65 million in box office sales this weekend, knocking 'Guardians of the Galaxy' out of No. 1 slot.

  • By Derrik J. Lang Associated Press

Studio estimates say "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" sliced off $65 million at the weekend box office.

The Paramount comic-book adaptation featuring Megan Fox alongside computer-generated renditions of the pizza-eating, sewer-dwelling superheroes lunged into first place in its debut weekend.

The studio announced plans Sunday for a sequel scheduled for June 3, 2016.

Marvel's cosmic romp "Guardians of the Galaxy" starring Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana as members of an intergalactic band of do-gooders slid into second place in its second weekend, with $41.5 million, bringing its total domestic haul to $175.9 million.

The Warner Bros. disaster film "Into the Storm" touched down in third place with $18 million.

The ninjas in a half shell were largely panned by critics, the Monitor reported Friday.

Los Angeles Times reviewer Mark Olsen also found that the movie focused too much on Megan Fox's character and "“the turtles often feel left in the background of their own movie.”

USA Today critic Claudia Puig called the film “charmless, dull and derivative.”

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