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Sunday June 25, 2017
'Transformers' Transform Into Blah Box Office
I've got good news and bad news for people who hate the “Transformers” movies as much as I do.
The good news is that domestically the series peaked at the box office in 2009 with “Revenge of the Fallen.” It's tough to compare their opening weekends since the movies opened on different days—a Tuesday, a Friday and three Wednesdays—so I've compared opening days, as well as first five days, below:
| Movie | Opened | 1st day | 5 Days | Total | |
| 2007 | Transformers | Tues., July 3 | $36 | 107.3 | $319 |
| 2009 | Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen | Wed., June 24 | $62 | 200.0 | $402 |
| 2011 | Transformers: Dark of the Moon | Wed., June 29 | $43 | 162.5 | $352 |
| 2014 | Transformers: Age of Extinction | Fri., June 27 | $42 | 120.9 | $245 |
| 2014 | Transformers: The Last Knight | Wed., June 21 | $16 | 68.4 | ?? |
As you can see, the shamelessly titled “Last Knight” is taking in a fraction of what “Fallen” did eight years ago—and that's unadjusted. Hell, it's taking in a fraction of what “Extinction” did in 2014. All of the sequels generally make half of their final total domestic gross in their first five days, and if this trend continues “Last Knight” is topping out at around $140, or $70 million short of its production budget. Bye bye, Optimus. Time to shut down this idiotfest.
Except, of yeah, there are other people in the world, and they seem to love this idiotfest.
| Movie | Domestic | International | Dom. % | |
| 2007 | Transformers | $319 | $390 | 45% |
| 2009 | Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen | $402 | $434 | 48% |
| 2011 | Transformers: Dark of the Moon | $352 | $771 | 31% |
| 2014 | Transformers: Age of Extinction | $245 | $857 | 22% |
| 2014 | Transformers: The Last Knight | $69* | $196* | 26% |
*And counting
Other mechanized, sequelized heroes, Pixar's “Cars 3,” grossed $25 million in its second weekend to finish No. 2 at the box office. This sequel too is down from the heights of its predecessors. In fact, if you adjust for inflation, “Cars 2” was actually the second lowest-grossing film in Pixar history, after “The Good Dinosaur,” so you kind of wonder why “3” was made. Oh right. Worldwide, it grossed $562 million. Sigh.
Third place is occupied by the third weekend of “Wonder Woman,” which fell off only 39% and is now at $319 million domestically. Worldwide, it's at $652. It's the crown jewel of the DC Extended Universe. Low bar, yes.
The weekend's best box office news? Word-of-mouth is apparently working for the summer's best comedy, “The Big Sick,” which opened in five theaters in NY and LA and grossed an average of $80k per. Those are good numbers. It opens at a theater near you on July 14.
UPDATE: The fourth weekend of “Wonder Woman” actually edged out the second weekend of “Cars 3” by about a million ($24.9 vs. $24.0). The estimates for “Transformers 5” were also a little optimistic: Its five-day total is down by half a million to $68.4. The above chart is corrected accordingly.