Updated on Monday, July 4th.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon is performing even better overseas than in the U.S. as it surged to a mammoth $398.1 million for its worldwide six-day debut. Although it was still running 6% behind the performance of its predecessor here in North America, overseas, where it was getting a whopping 70% of its total from 3-D showings, the film has generated $217 million, which is 57% better than the second Transformers film. The overseas totals do not include estimates for Monday, which means that the film, which has already posted the third best six-day global launch ever, is likely well over the $400 million mark by now.
Domestically Transformers: Dark of the Moon, which earned $116.4 million over the four-day weekend, is slowly catching up with its predecessor thanks to its ability to lure young action movie fans back to the theaters. Fifty-five % of those who bought tickets for the film here in North America were under 25, while 62% were male. The film averaged a lusty $29,006 per theater over the 4-day weekend.
Original story filed on Sunday:
Michael Bay’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon earned at estimated $97.4 over the three-day weekend, which gives it the best 3-day total of any film so far this year. The third Transformers movie, which opened on Wednesday, now has amassed a total of $162.5 million (including Tuesday midnight showings). Check back tomorrow for updated 4-day weekend totals. The film’s six-day cumulative could be close to $180 million, which will be well below that of its predecessor, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, but given how bad that film was and how depressed the box office has been this year, Dark of the Moon’s performance is definitely good news for the franchise.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon is performing even better overseas than in the U.S. as it surged to a mammoth $398.1 million for its worldwide six-day debut. Although it was still running 6% behind the performance of its predecessor here in North America, overseas, where it was getting a whopping 70% of its total from 3-D showings, the film has generated $217 million, which is 57% better than the second Transformers film. The overseas totals do not include estimates for Monday, which means that the film, which has already posted the third best six-day global launch ever, is likely well over the $400 million mark by now.
Domestically Transformers: Dark of the Moon, which earned $116.4 million over the four-day weekend, is slowly catching up with its predecessor thanks to its ability to lure young action movie fans back to the theaters. Fifty-five % of those who bought tickets for the film here in North America were under 25, while 62% were male. The film averaged a lusty $29,006 per theater over the 4-day weekend.
Original story filed on Sunday:
Michael Bay’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon earned at estimated $97.4 over the three-day weekend, which gives it the best 3-day total of any film so far this year. The third Transformers movie, which opened on Wednesday, now has amassed a total of $162.5 million (including Tuesday midnight showings). Check back tomorrow for updated 4-day weekend totals. The film’s six-day cumulative could be close to $180 million, which will be well below that of its predecessor, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, but given how bad that film was and how depressed the box office has been this year, Dark of the Moon’s performance is definitely good news for the franchise.
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Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): July 1 - 3, 2011 |
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|
|
Film |
Weekend Gross |
Screens |
Avg./ Screen |
Total Gross |
Wk# |
|
1 |
Transformers: Dark of the Moon |
$97,400,000 |
4,013 |
$24,271 |
$162,125,000 |
1 |
|
2 |
Cars 2 |
$25,112,000 |
4,115 |
$6,103 |
$116,043,000 |
2 |
|
3 |
Bad Teacher |
$14,100,000 |
3,049 |
$4,624 |
$59,546,000 |
2 |
|
4 |
Larry Crowne |
$13,007,000 |
2,973 |
$4,375 |
$13,007,000 |
1 |
|
5 |
Monte Carlo |
$7,600,000 |
2,473 |
$3,073 |
$7,600,000 |
1 |
|
6 |
Super 8 |
$7,500,000 |
3,088 |
$2,429 |
$108,036,000 |
4 |
|
7 |
Green Lantern |
$6,270,000 |
3,280 |
$1,912 |
$101,962,000 |
3 |
|
8 |
Mr. Popper's Penguins |
$5,100,000 |
2,861 |
$1,783 |
$50,125,000 |
3 |
|
9 |
Bridesmaids |
$3,521,000 |
1,389 |
$2,535 |
$152,895,000 |
8 |
|
10 |
Midnight in Paris |
$3,438,000 |
858 |
$4,007 |
$33,638,000 |
7 |
More good news for Hollywood was the fact that 60% of the Transformers 3 revenue came from 3-D showings, which indicates the format is far from dead, though the poor 3-D showings of Green Lantern, Pirates of the Caribbean and Cars 2 certainly demonstrate that audiences are becoming very picky about paying the 3-D surcharges, and won’t pony up for just any movie. In spite of poor reviews from the critics (only 38% positive), Transformers: Dark of the Moon earned a solid “A” CinemaScore from first weekend moviegoers, which likely means that Transformers 3 is now the film to beat in the summer box office sweepstakes.
Transformers’ new Independence Day weekend record opening also powered the total of the top 10 films more than 2% above the same frame last year, which was led by The Twilight Saga: Eclipse’s $64.8 million debut. The Autobots didn’t get much help from the other newcomers. Tom Hanks' Larry Crowne debuted at #4 with just over $13 million, while the Selena Gomez vehicle Monte Carlo was a distant 5th with an estimated $7.6 million.
Warner Bros.’ Green Lantern is now officially in real trouble after falling another 65.2% in its third weekend. The $200 million plus production has earned just an estimated $102 million, and could have trouble pulling in more than $125 million domestically. Over the 3-day weekend Green Lantern averaged just $1,912 per theater, the lowest average in the top ten with the exception of Mr. Popper’s Penguins. Warners has been slow to roll the film out overseas, where it has earned just $29.4 million so far, so there remains the possibility that foreign audiences could yet save the film, but such an outcome appears increasingly unlikely as the weeks roll on.
But Warner Bros. wasn’t the only studio on the receiving end of a box office blow to the solar plexus. Pixar’s Cars 2’s second week drop of 62% was the biggest ever suffered by a Pixar film, dwarfing Wall-E’s 48%. Part of the problem could be competition from the Transformers movie for the young male audience, but the fact that Cars 2 is the first poorly-reviewed Pixar film (only 35% positive on Rotten Tomatoes) could be taking its toll. Adding insult to injury the percentage of its total earned by 3-D showings declined from 40% during its opening week to just 35% this weekend.
The Cameron Diaz “R” rated comedy, Bad Teacher fell by 55%, a steep drop for a comedy, but the movie still managed to outdraw the debuting Larry Crowne. The “PG-13” Larry Crowne, a feel good comedy for “adults,” is a good example of counter-programming. It did attract the audience its creators were targeting—93% were over 25 and a whopping 71% were over 50—there just weren’t enough of them, and they gave the film a mediocre “B” CinemaScore, which doesn’t bode well for its prospects.
The other bit of counter-programming, the “PG” rated Monte Carlo, attracted the young (52% under 18), female (82%) audience that the producers of the modestly budgeted ($20 million) movie were looking for, but with an opening weekend total of just $7.6 million, Fox had better hope for a better showing on DVD.
J.J. Abrams’ Super 8, which dropped just 37.6% in its fourth weekend, has now earned $108 million, and could end up with a bigger domestic total than Green Lantern, even though the Hal Jordan epic cost more than four times as much to produce. Green Lantern could overtake Super 8, but it has no chance of matching the “R” rated comedy Bridesmaids’ domestic total of $152.9 million. Who would have thought that at the beginning of the summer?