Paramount and Michael Bay's
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
fulfilled its destiny in owning
the North American box office
over the first three days of the
Fourth of July holiday weekend.
The latest Michael Bay effort
outpaced its closest competitor,
Disney's Cars 2, by a skyscraper
tall margin of 4-1. It also made
mincemeat out of the other two
movies that opened in wide
release, Universal's Larry Crowne
and Fox's Monte Carlo. Overall,
the holiday box office was up a
healthy 6% over last year when
Summit's The Twilight Saga:
Eclipse opened with a bang.
Just like disfigured Decepticon
leader Megatron, the
Transformers film franchise is
one you can't keep down. While
the 2009 entry Transformers:
Revenge of the Fallen made a
tremendous amount of money
($870 million worldwide), it
wasn't the most beloved of
films. Critics despised it, fanboys
were largely divided on it and
even the film's director and star,
Michael Bay and Shia LaBeouf,
decided to tear it a new one
(albeit after they got paid). But
as we all know in the world of
modern filmmaking, it doesn't
matter if a film is good. What
matters is how much you make
at the box office.
With the exception of critics,
who continue to show their
contempt for the series, all
seems to have been forgotten in
regards to the 2009 turkey by
the ticket-buying public.
Arriving on 4,013 screens this
weekend, Transformers: Dark of
the Moon earned a whopping $
97.4 million over the Friday-to-
Sunday period for a great per-
screen average of $22, 973. With
$64.7 million amassed starting at
nine pm Tuesday night, the
movie has earned a staggering $
162 million in its first five days
of release. The latest chapter of
the successful film series based
on the Hasbro toy line reunites
Bay and LaBeouf as well as John
Turturro, Josh Duhamel and
Tyrese Gibson. John Malkovich
and Frances McDormand also
star.
While a majority of this
summer's 3D enhanced
offerings have seen most of
their business come from the
non-3D showings, Dark of the
Moon saw roughly 60% of its
ticket sales come from the
higher-priced showings. The
daily breakdown is as follows:
Tuesday night (starting at 9pm
$5.5 million, Wednesday $37.7
million, Thursday $21.5 million,
Friday $33 million, Saturday $
34.5 million and Sunday $29.85
million. The Monday holiday
could help push the first week
total to the $180 million mark.
While impressive in its own
right, Dark of the Moon is
lagging behind not only the $
200 million earned by Revenge
of the Fallen in its first five days
two years ago, but also the
2007 original in regards to
overall ticket sales in its first
week out. Overseas grosses for
the first five days were $210
million which helped make the $
372 million global opener the
third biggest ever on record.
Shifting gears in its second
weekend was Disney/Pixar's
Cars 2 which dipped by roughly
62% to an estimated $25.1
million for the holiday weekend.
After ten days, the critically-
despised sequel has earned $116
million. With the kiddies out of
school for the summer and no
real animated competition to
speak of on the horizon, Cars 2
may be able to sustain itself to
cruise to the $175 million mark, a
sizable drop from the $244
million earned by the 2006
original and the lowest grossing
Pixar release since 1998 when A
Bug's Life earned $162 million.
Overseas, Cars 2 has earned $82
million since opening last week.
After having a surprisingly
strong opening last weekend,
Sony's Bad Teacher took a bit of
a dive in its sophomore session.
Off 55% from last weekend,
Cameron Diaz and her class
earned an estimated $14.1
million from 3,049 screens to
bring its ten-day total to the $59
million mark. The $20 million
production should finish its run
source:thehdroom.com
enough said
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