Ninja Turtles Don’t Loosen Hold on No.1 Box Office Spot

Turtlemania continues!

In its third week of release, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” continued to snap up the green and again grabbed the No. 1 spot at the nation’s box office.

With an assist from kids on Spring Break, the reptilian quartet with an appetite for justice--and pizza--had ticket sales of about $14 million. The surprise hit from New Line Cinema has grossed about $64 million.

“Turtles,” in release on 2,377 screens, is averaging about $5,889 per screen--a very healthy figure.

With ticket sales of about $11 million, Touchstone’s “Pretty Woman” claimed the No. 2 spot. Starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts, the tale of love with the proper hooker has grossed about $50 million.

Touchstone also claimed third place, with the further adventures of the well-intentioned but perpetually bumbling (“knowwhatImean”) Ernest. With ticket sales of about $4.3 million, “Ernest Goes to Jail” has grossed about $11 million.

In fourth place was Paramount Pictures’ omnipresent submarine thriller, “The Hunt for Red October,” with ticket sales of about $4.1 million. The screen adaptation of Tom Clancy’s best seller has grossed more than $87 million.

Fifth place went to Orion’s supernatural scare show, “The First Power,” starring Lou Diamond Phillips. With ticket sales of about $3.9 million, it has grossed about $10 million.

Aside from Miramax’s “The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover”--a controversial odyssey about food and sex, revenge and violence set in a posh restaurant--it was not a good week for new releases.

Despite the star power of Dudley Moore and Daryl Hannah, Paramount Pictures’ “Crazy People” earned only $3.4 million on 1,389 screens, for about $2,447 per screen and a sixth-place ranking. Columbia Pictures’ “The Gods Must Be Crazy II”--the sequel to the 1981 cult hit from Botswana--earned $1.2 million on 321 screens, for about $3,800 per screen and 10th place at the box office.