“Transformers” Morphs Into Box Office Smash
Posted July 8, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
” Transformers,” may be a film about shape-shifting robots, but as far as Hollywood is concerned, it’s more like a money-making machine.
DreamWorks’ newest sci-fi saga and Paramount’s big-screen take on the Hasbro toys debuted with $67.6 million in ticket sales in its first weekend, pushing it’s total to $152.5 million since preview screenings Monday night. What that means is that assuming the weekend figures hold Monday, “Transformers” would become the biggest first week earner ever for a non-sequel, surpassing the $151.6 million of 2002’s ” Spider-Man.”
Directed by Michael Bay, “Transformers” stars Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox as two of the humans hurled into the action when races of warring robots bring their feud to Earth.
“Michael Bay created something visually that people hadn’t seen before,” said Rob Moore, Paramount’s head of worldwide marketing and distribution. “When you look at a jet plane flying under a bridge then flipping and turning into a robot, those kinds of images people found incredibly unique and compelling.”
Still, the overall domestic box office plunged as the top 12 movies took in $161.5 million, down 23 per cent from the same weekend last year when “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” opened with $135.6 million.
“The good news is we’ve got another big one right around the corner with `Harry Potter,”‘ said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. “We should be looking at a strong midsummer boost that’ll hopefully carry through to the end of summer.”
Here’s the rest of the weekend’s top 10, with all figures estimated according to Media By Numbers LLC.
1. “Transformers,” $67.6 million.
2. ” Ratatouille,” $29 million.
3. ” Live Free or Die Hard,” $17.4 million.
4. ” License to Wed,” $10.4 million.
5. ” Evan Almighty,” $8.1 million.
6. ” 1408,” $7.1 million.
7. ” Knocked Up,” $5.2 million.
8. ” Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer,” $4.15 million.
9. ” Sicko,” $3.65 million.
10. ” Ocean’s Thirteen,” $3.5 million.
