With the summer season officially over as of last weekend’s Labor Day holiday, the US box office has slipped into a period of low-earning doldrums. With only one relatively wide new release this week – faith-based music drama The Identical, which barely blipped awareness radars and opened 11th – Guardians Of The Galaxy once more ruled over an almost-unchanged top 10, according to studio estimates.
The Marvel movie, the highest-earning US release of 2014 so far, enjoyed a fourth (and third consecutive) weekend at the top of the charts, adding $10.1 million to its coffers for $294.5 million in the US so far. It should cross the $300 million mark domestically this week and is closing in on $590 million worldwide.
**Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles **remained in second, earning $6.5 million after five weeks in the charts, ahead of supernatural romance drama If I Stay, which earned $5.7 million, and is up to nearly $40 million domestically.
Comedy **Let’s Be Cops **actually jumped one place to fourth, taking in $5.4 million for an impressive $66.5 million US total and $83.6 million globally; not bad for a relatively low $17 million budget and a more limited release than the likes of 22 Jump Stree****t. Pierce Brosnan spy thriller The November Man also climbed a place from last week’s sixth slot launch, making $4.2 million. Still Brosnan's attempt to launch a new Bond-style franchise is looking less 007 and more double-"oh! My hip has gone."
Subterranean horror As Above, So Below still hasn’t grabbed audiences, slipping from fourth to sixth and earning $3.72 million this week, just ahead of inspirational sports drama When The Game Stands Tall, which stayed in seventh and added $3.7 million to its box office score. The Giver lodged in eighth place with $3.5 million, The Hundred-Foot Journey stayed put in ninth for $3.2 million and Lucy used its expanded brainpower to sneak back into the top 10, taking in $1.9 million for a $121.2 million US total. But it’s overseas where the film has really shown legs, earning $192.2 million outside the US for a $313.4 million global haul to date.
To see Gamora and the gang take on the rest in the full chart listings, head to Box Office Mojo.