HOLLYWOOD—There were many surprises at the box-office this weekend. “Guardians of the Galaxy” surpassed predictions and broke a record for the biggest opening for the month of August with a haul of $94 million.

 

Predictions for the movie were initially in the mid $60 million range, but after grabbing nearly $11 million during midnight showings on Thursday, and close to $40 million on Friday, it became apparent “Guardians” was a hit with audiences. The previous victor for the month of August was “The Bourne Ultimatum” back in 2007, which earned $69.3 million during its opening weekend.

 

Last week’s champ, “Lucy” fell to the #2 spot with $18.3 million, dropping a little over 50 percent. After almost two weeks, the spy thriller has amounted close to $80 million at the domestic box-office. Grabbing the #3 spot is the James Brown biopic “Get On Up” with a soft $14 million. I had suspected this movie to open to larger numbers considering director Tate Taylor saw much success during the same time frame in 2011 with “The Help.”

 

Landing in the #4 spot was “Hercules” which added another $10 million to its total. After two weeks, the action flick has surpassed the $50 million mark. Rounding out the top five was “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” with an additional $8.7 million. After nearly a month in theaters the film is just a mere $10 million from crossing the $200 million mark at the domestic box-office.

 

This weekend sees the reboot of everyone’s favorite 80s cartoon, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” along with another installment in the “Step Up” franchise.