Michael Bey's Transformers movie roared out of the gate with the strongest Tuesday opening in history, a potent $27.4 million, nearly double the previous record for a Tuesday gross--$15.7 million set by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest in 2006.  Add in the $8.8 million that the Transformers earned on Monday night and the film's total has reached over $36 million for its first 28 hours of release.

In terms of all-time opening days Transformers ranks only #20 (just behind 300), but that is largely a product of opening on Tuesday.  It should be interesting to see what the Transformers movie does over the coming weekend.  Films that open on Wednesday or even Thursday tend to dilute their opening weekend totals considerably as the hardcore fans rush to see movie right away.  With its Monday night/Tuesday opening (and the 4th of July -- only a mediocre holiday as far as movie-going is concerned--on Wednesday) Transformers should have accumulated quite a total before the weekend even starts. 

With its testosterone-fueled robot-packed action Transformers is the perfect example of the male-oriented summer action blockbuster and Paramount/Dreamworks' analysis of the opening day's audience as 60% male, 40% female makes perfect sense, and by Sunday night its total should provide a pretty good indicator of how well this franchise-establishing film will do.

Last weekend's top film, Ratatouille, earned a solid $7.9 million on Tuesday; and Fox's Live Free or Die Hard, a film that is in direct competition with Transformers for the male action picture audience, also did well, bringing in $4.5 million on Tuesday.