‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ Sweeps Box Office With $35.5M Opening Weekend

Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo and Raphael reunited to win the U.S. box office this weekend. "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows" brought in $35.3 million in its first three days, studio estimates compiled by comScore show.

But the sequel fell far short of the first "Ninja Turtles" reboot from producer Michael Bay. The heroes in a half shell in 2014 raked in $65 million on opening weekend before garnering $493 million in sales at the worldwide box office.

"In 2014, people were running out to see 'Ninja Turtles' out of nostalgia for the past movies and the TV show," Jeff Bock, box office analyst for Exhibitor Relations, told USA Today on Sunday. "But the fans are clearly not as enthusiastic about one movie every two years. This is a lesson for Hollywood, which is suffering with sequels this summer."

Critics gave "Out of the Shadows" a lowly 35 percent approval rating on review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes. That's still better than 2014 version's score of just 22 percent. Moviegoers similarly favored the newest version, giving the 2016 sequel an A- on CinemaScore while branding the earlier film with a B.

"X-Men: Apocalypse," the latest installment of the "X-Men" franchise, earned $22.3 million in its second weekend, bringing cumulative sales to $116.5 million.

"Me Before You," a modestly budgeted romantic drama, had a solid third-place debut with $18.3 million. The film stars Emilia Clarke ("Game of Thrones") as young and quirky Louisa Clark, who becomes a caregiver for Will Traynor (Sam Claflin), a wealthy young banker left paralyzed from an accident. The love story is based on Jojo Moyes' best-selling novel, which a Variety film critic described as "a squeaky-clean love story submerged in youthful doom."

Another sequel, "Alice Through the Looking Glass," took fourth with $10.7 million in its second weekend, bringing total sales to $50.8 million. Critics have cast the sequel to 2010's "Alice in Wonderland" as a disappointing dud. A Rolling Stone critic, citing another Tim Burton remake, said the sequel looks "like Willy Wonka threw up all over his chocolate factory."

The animated "Angry Birds" movie landed in fifth place with $9.8 million, bringing the PG-rated flick's three-week total to $86.7 million.