$201 million in 5 days for ‘Transformers,’ that’s one for the record books
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Update (11:45 AM): ‘Transformers’ earned $363 million worldwide. Get more details here.
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Exploding already huge expectations and the existing record for a film debuting on a Wednesday, ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ posted a massive opening of more than $200 million over its first five days.
Though many in Hollywood were predicting audiences’ negative reactions would slow the movie’s momentum after a record-setting $60.6-million launch Wednesday, just the opposite happened for the critically maligned sequel.
Paramount estimates that the film earned $201.2 million over its first five days at the box office, a very impressive performance that wouldn’t have been possible without consistently strong interest.
‘Transformers’ has posted the biggest five-day gross ever for a film opening on a Wednesday by a very wide margin. The previous record holder was ‘Spider-Man 2’ with $152.4 million. It’s just short of the all-time-biggest five-day performance: $203.7 million for ‘The Dark Knight.’
The $112 million that ‘Revenge of the Fallen’ earned from Friday through Sunday also put it just ahead of ‘Shrek 2,’ not accounting for ticket-price inflation, for the biggest-ever weekend take for a film that opened on a Wednesday.
Foreign grosses weren’t immediately available but based on initial reports are likely to be in the neighborhood of $200 million as well. That puts the film, which Paramount produced at a cost of about $200 million, on track to be a huge worldwide hit and extremely profitable for the troubled studio.
With ‘Transformers’ dominating theaters, there wasn’t much room for even a film narrowly targeted at adult women. Warner Bros.’ ‘My Sister’s Keeper’ opened to a soft $12 million, at the low end of expectations.
It was No. 5 at the domestic box office, behind Disney’s ‘The Proposal,’ which dropped a relatively light 45% on its second weekend to $18.5 million; ‘The Hangover,’ which earned $17.2 million; and ‘Up,’ which sold $13 million worth of tickets.
-- Ben Fritz