Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots
Brandon Gray of Box Office Mojo:
Transformers blasted off with an optimal estimated $152.5 million in six and a half days during the Independence Day holiday frame…
Pamela McClintock of Variety:
Transformation complete.
Quickly rising to become a summer hit, DreamWorks and Paramount’s robot actioner “Transformers” scored the best seven-day showing for a nonsequel in history, clobbering previous record holder “Spider-Man.”
Directed by Michael Bay, “Transformers” closed out its 6½-day holiday opening with an estimated domestic take of $152.5 million from 4,011 runs and international B.O. of $93.6 million from 29 markets for a worldwide cume of $246.1 million. Domestic opening is the biggest ever for both Par and DreamWorks for a live-action title.
The boffo perf will likely usher in a new film franchise and comes none too soon for Brad Grey’s Paramount, which is in sore need of a live-action franchise, having sent “Mission: Impossi-ble” star Tom Cruise packing last year. Live-action franchise would also mark the first for DreamWorks. Studios have a sequel option on “Transformers” star Shia LaBeouf.
Tentpole, which took $67.6 million over the weekend, was hardly the only movie enjoying the benefits of an unusually busy July Fourth holidaystretch.
Disney-Pixar’s “Ratatouille” continued to bubble away, coming in No. 2 in its second weekend with another $29 million over the frame from 3,940 screens for a total take of $109.5 million. Pic declined 38% in its second weekend.
Fox’s “Live Free or Die Hard” also stayed buff, nabbing the No. 3 spot with an estimated $17.4 million from 3,411 screens for a total of $84.1 million. Pic dipped 48% from the previous weekend.
No. 4 was Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures’ laffer “License to Wed,” which brought in $17.8 million from 2,604 engagements over six days, in line with the studio’s expecta-tions. Weekend take was $10.4 million.
Michael Moore’s holdover docu “Sicko” continued its healthy run over the weekend and came in at No. 9. Pic, which expanded to 702 screens, drew $3.6 million and a healthy per-screen average of $5,199. Cume is $11.5 million.
New specialty films “Rescue Dawn,” “Introducing the Dwights” and “Joshua” also performed well enough in limited bows over the weekend to justify expansion plans.
Behind the scenes on Sunday, Par and DreamWorks were sharing the “Transformers” glow. Pic marks the third box office hit DreamWorks has delivered this year, making Par’s purchase of DreamWorks even sweeter.
“All parts came together like the Transformer robots. The ‘bots put butts in the seats,” DreamWorks spokesman Marvin Levy said.
“The filmmakers delivered a perfect summer movie that was original and fun. Paramount marketing and distribution did a great job in getting it out there,” Levy said...
The entire article can be read here
From Entertainment Weekly:
Michael Bay's epic robot battle tops $150 million domestically after seven days and becomes the summer's biggest non-sequel smash...
Still haven't seen Transformers yet, but I hope to go within the next week or so...
No comments:
Post a Comment