Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 3D prove kowabunga at the Chinese box office

The heroes in a half-shell beat rival martial arts movie Kung Fu Jungle to the top spot

Shell shock: ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ (ILM/Paramount)

It might have been panned as a ‘turtle turkey’ by critics, but the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are proving kowabunga in China with the film reboot having taken £33m at the box office in its first 10 days.

The movie, which stars Megan Fox as turtle-loving reporter April O’Neil in the 1980s classic comic, racked up 236,675 screenings and more than 4.1 million admissions in China in the week ending 9 November, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

China has the world’s second-largest film market and Turtles is screening in 3D in the region. Of the 52 films which made over 100m yuan (£10.2m) in the year to October, 26 of them were in 3D, according to data from HIS research group, which shows that unlike in other film markets having a third dimension is an indicator of box office success.

William Fichtner, Alan Ritchson, Johnny Knoxville and Will Arnett star as the reptilian brothers who rise from the sewers to help save New York City from Shredder and his Foot Clan. Several of the actors, including Fox, Fichtner, as well as producers Brad Fuller and Andrew Form and Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore, visited China to promote the film.

It beat rival martial-arts movie Kung Fu Jungle to the top spot at the Chinese box office. Teddy Chan’s film, which stars Donnie Yen, Wang Baoqiang, Charlie Yeung and Michelle Bai, took £5.8m in its first full week.

Turtles was described as having “the emotional resonance of an episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” by The Independent’s critic, and called a “total turtle turkey” by the Guardian.