There were several surprises at the box office this weekend, some good and some disappointing. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles maintained its dominance of the charts, holding first place with a $28.4 million gross in its second weekend. The film was followed closely by Guardians of the Galaxy, which made $24.7 million over the weekend for a domestic total of $222.3 million.
Both films are among the best-performing of the summer, with Guardians breaking August records and TMNT exceeding even high expectations. The news was not so good for The Expendables 3, which hoped to take a more sizeable chunk of the box office this weekend. Instead, the film opened to a lackluster $16.2 million and fourth place, unable to best Let's Be Cops despite it's abundance of A-list talent from years past.
One possible explanation for the dismal debut of The Expendables 3, which stars Terry Crews, Wesley Snipes, Sylvester Stallone and about a dozen others, is that a pristine copy of the film leaked online weeks before its theatrical release. Lionsgate, the studio that financed the film, is aggressively seeking out the pirates who leaked the film and promises legal action. No doubt, their efforts will be doubled after the weekend's disappointing box office results.
Let's Be Cops, the buddy-cop comedy starring Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr., came in third place with $17.7 million, a very pleasing figure for studio execs who took a gamble headlining the comedy with two untested stars (Johnson and Wayans Jr. are co-stars on the hit Fox series New Girl). 
Rounding out the top five was The Giver, starring Jeff Bridges and Meryl Streep, which took in $12.7 million.
Next week, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For will attempt to scoop up the last of the summer box office dollars before theaters transition to prestige films and Oscar hopefuls. 
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(Photo: Twentieth Century Fox Pictures)