Ninja Turtles Shell-Shock Hollywood : Movies: Radioactive reptiles snap up $19 million in tickets during second week at box office.

Those radioactive reptiles did it again!

New Line Cinema’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” snapped up about $19 million in ticket sales during their second week at the box office--leaving Hollywood shell-shocked.

With many youngsters across the country now on spring break, the man-size, pizza-crazy critters--who were spawned by a 1984 comic book--are expected to continue their assault.

Indeed, with box-office grosses of nearly $45 million, the Turtles are now on the verge of axing Freddy Krueger. Prior to the release of the “Turtles,” New Line’s top grosser was the fourth film in the “A Nightmare on Elm Street” series--starring the irascible Freddy. It scared up $50 million in 1988.

“Turtles” is also expected to easily wax another record and emerge as the top-grossing independently released film. The honor now goes to Vestron’s “Dirty Dancing,” which earned $54 million in 1987.

Turtlemania wasn’t the only big news at the box office.

Touchstone’s “Pretty Woman”--starring Richard Gere as a corporate executive who falls in love with Hollywood hooker-turned-lady Julia Roberts--earned about $11 million for yet another week in the No. 2 spot. This brings receipts for the R-rated Pygmalionish comedy-romance to about $39 million.

No. 3 was Touchstone’s third installment in the film series about dumb-guy hero Ernest P. Worrell, as played by Jim Varney. “Ernest Goes to Jail” locked up strong receipts of an estimated $6 million.

The news was also good for Orion Pictures. Its supernatural thriller, “The First Power,” saw receipts of nearly $5.8 million materialize, for fourth place.

Fifth place went to Paramount Pictures’ still-formidable “The Hunt for Red October,” which torpedoed about $5 million in ticket sales. The submarine thriller has now commanded grosses of more than $83 million.

Among the weekend disappointments were several new releases, including Tri-Star’s “I Love You to Death,” which boasted an all-star cast and direction by Lawrence Kasdan, but managed to take in about $3.8 million, for sixth place. And Universal’s “Cry Baby,” starring heartthrob Johnny Debb, with direction by cult king John Waters, did about $2.8 million.

In limited release at 155 screens, the Warner Bros.’ thriller “Impulse” had receipts of about $535,000. Meanwhile, Universal’s “Opportunity Knocks,” starring Dana Carvey of “Saturday Night Live,” plummeted an estimated 39%, its second week, for receipts of about $2.2 million.