Ninja Turtles top US box office

Ninja Turtles top US box office

News from BBC

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have made their comeback in US cinemas, with the 1990s characters' latest film topping the box office chart.

Studio estimates show TMNT - a computer-animated update of the comic favourites - on course to take $25.4m (£13m) over the weekend.

Battle epic 300 fell to second place, taking $20.5m (£10.4m).

In third place was Shooter, starring Mark Wahlberg as an ex-US marine framed for a presidential assassination.

It was on course to take $14.5m ($7.4m) in cinemas in the US and Canada.

TMNT follows four turtles who become man-sized reptiles to fight evil. The characters first appeared in comic books in the mid-1980s, before spawning a TV series in 1987 and three films in the early 1990s.

"It's sequel time, dudes," said movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, whose Weinstein Company is distributing the film outside the US.

"We knew from the inception of this project that the TMNT characters would continue to resonate with audiences across the world."

Other new movies making their US debuts included family fantasy The Last Mimzy - about a brother and sister with superhuman powers - which made its debut in fifth place.

Horror sequel The Hills Have Eyes 2 opened in seventh, while post-11 September drama Reign Over Me, starring Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle, came in at number eight.

Pride - the story of a coach who started a swimming team for underprivileged black youths in the 1970s - took $4m (£2m) at number nine. It stars Terrence Howard and Bernie Mac.