This weekend's new releases, No Good Deed and Dolphin Tale 2 both put an end to Guardian of the Galaxy's stellar 4-week run at the top of the box office.  No Good Deed had a remarkably successful debut, reeling in almost double what the film cost to make. The home invasion film features two up-and-coming stars in Idris Elba and Taraji P. Henson who have been putting in respectable work for the last few years. Meanwhile Dolphin Tale 2 had a respectable opening but fell a little short of its predecessor, which opened at $19.1 million back in 2011. Inspired by a true story, the family-friendly film should still have a solid box office run overall. Guardians of the Galaxy grossed the domestic $300 million milestone on Saturday, being the only film that opened this year to reach that goal. Quite an accomplishment considering that a year ago most movie-goers (myself included) had no idea who this rowdy bunch of Marvel heroes even were. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles likely just had its last week in the top 5. I'm curious to see if it will be able to reach the $200 million mark before it's taken out of theaters. Turtles was almost overtaken by Let's Be Cops which snuck back into the top 5, shutting out The Drop which opened in 6th place with $4.1 million.

Next week will see three new big releases coming out; Liam Neeson's action-thriller A Walk Among the Tombstones, the teenage action-adventure The Maze Runner, and the house arrest family-comedy This Is Where I Leave You. I expect these three films to perform pretty well and to help pull us out of the current box office slump. Check back later in the week for the return of Movie Kombat when A Walk Among the Tombstones and The Maze Runner battle it out for the box office throne.

Another weekend at #1 for Guardians of the Galaxy. This is its 4th week at the top spot, putting it in good company as it becomes one of only 4 films from the last decade to accomplish having 4 weeks or more atop the box office. Those other 3 films include The Dark Knight (4 weeks), The Hunger Games (4 weeks), and Avatar (7 weeks). I think the most remarkable thing about this streak is that while Guardians has won a total of 4 weeks, they were not consecutive. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles managed to steal the crown and hold onto it for two weeks, before Guardians came back to take the lead, which it has has since held onto it for three straight weeks, demonstrating its remarkable staying power and resilience.

While Guardians still has a sizable lead over the rest of the pack, it looks like its run may be coming to an end this weekend when No Good Deed and Dolphin Tale 2 are released. Then again, I thought it would have been topped two weeks ago by As Above, So Below and The November Man, but they each had luckluster debuts.

This week's biggest new release was The Identical, which wasn't expected to make much of a splash, and it sure didn't. The film opened in 12th place with a paltry $1.5 million. This weekend was also the 20th year anniversary of Forrest Gump, which was remastered and released exclusively for IMAX. While the film looked better than ever, it seems most people weren't willing to spend the extra cash to see it on the big screen when they likely already own the film at home. It was only able to reel in a total of $381,000 over 337 theaters. Check back next week to see if Guardians can stave off next week's newcomers to retain its title!

Guardians of the Galaxy continues its hot streak, staying atop the box office during this 4-day holiday weekend, while also surpassing Captain America: The Winter Soldier's $260 million to become the highest grossing domestic film of the year. Marvel's blockbuster film of lesser-known comic book heroes has been an incredible success and is soon to pass the $300 million mark. It also looks to easily hold onto its position next week, with weak competition being released. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles remains in 2nd place, raising its total to $166 million nationwide. If I Stay and Let's Be Cops also hold onto their same positions as last week, while the found-footage horror film As Above, So Below ($10.3M) just narrowly beat out The November Man ($10.2M) for the 5th spot, in our closest Movie Kombat battle yet! Without a strong release coming out later this week, I expect next week's box office results to look awfully similar to this week's. Though with Forrest Gump being rereleased on IMAX for its 20-year anniversary, perhaps Forrest might be able to run his way into the top 5!