‘Ninja Turtles’ Succumbs to a ‘Woman’

After four weeks in the No. 1 spot at the nation’s box office, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” was finally beaten at the finish line.

Touchstone’s romantic comedy, “Pretty Woman” starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts, had weekend ticket sales of about $7.3 million to edge New Line Cinema’s green wonders out of first place.

With ticket sales of about $6.7 million, the turtles had to settle for second.

But the turtles are still the apparent victors in the race toward the lofty $100-million mark. To date, moviegoers have shelled out about $96 million for the Turtles, while “Pretty Woman” has sold about $80 million in tickets.

Despite a critical clobbering, Universal Pictures’ “The Guardian,” directed by William Friedkin (“The Exorcist”), scared up ticket sales of about $5.7 million for third place. In release at about 1,685 theaters, the horror entry had a per-screen-average of about $3,400.

In fourth place was Touchstone’s out-ot-this-world comedy, “Spaced Invaders.” It earned about $4.7 million at 1,821 screens, for about $2,580 per screen.

Paramount Pictures’ “The Hunt for Red October” edged closer to the $100-million target. With weekend ticket sales of about $2.9 million, it ranked fifth, with grosses of more than $99 million.

Tri-Star Pictures’ gritty police drama “Q & A,” directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Nick Nolte, had less-than-arresting ticket sales of about $2.8 million at 912 screens for sixth place--about $3,200 per screen. This was despite largely positive critical notices.