‘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.