This weekend gone when the Americans are celebrating the Fourth of July weekend, Paramount Pictures is celebrating on their own with a glass of champagne and some fireworks too. Transformers: Dark of the Moon broke some records over the weekend, but Universal Pictures' Larry Crowne and 20th Century Fox's Monte Carlo missed out the celebrations. Hit the jump to read more.
Despite not getting so well with the critics, Michael Bay-directed Transformers: Dark of the Moon dominated the box office with a sensational $97.4 million from 4,013 locations in the United States. That number was enough for the threequel to snatch the Independence Day weekend record from 2004's Spider-Man 2 which opened at $88.2 million. In terms of attendance, that will be a different story. It also took the biggest opener of the year title from May's Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.
Since opening on Wednesday, Transformers: Dark of the Moon has raked up $162.1 million in total (including $5.5 million Tuesday preview), putting it somewhere in between the first movie ($133.3 million) and the second one ($200.1 million) for the five-day start. The number of attendance for the third movie was significantly the lowest in the franchise. Dark of the Moon's 3D share of the gross was 60 percent at a record 2,789 3D locations, which was stronger than the 40 percent range showings of the last four major 3D releases (Cars 2, Green Lantern, Kung Fu Panda 2, Pirates 4). Dark of the Moon's exit polling results were 62 percent male (compred to 54 percent male for Revenge of the Fallen) and 55 percent under 25 years old.
Across the foreign market, Transformers: Dark Of The Moon was active in 9,075 venues and debuted top in 57 of its 58 markets, with approximately 70% of the result coming from 3D sites. The action release opened top in North America, where filmgoers are celebrating the Independence Day holiday, on $162.1m from six days, resulting in a $372.1m global opening weekend.
PPI’s previous best opening weekend was $147m for Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. The biggest result was $28m from 1,107 sites in South Korea, a staggering figure that produced an all-time local record. Transformers 3 took $22m in Russia from 690, $16.5m in the UK from 522, $16.1m in Australia from 253, $14.3m in Germany from 626 and $11m in Mexico from 543. Elsewhere it claimed $10.9m from 700 in France, an exceptional $10.2m from 62 in Taiwan, $5.9m from 376 in Brazil for a Paramount record, $5.8m from 677 in Italy and $5.2m from 44 in Hong Kong for the biggest launch in history.
Four further all-time opening records came courtesy of The Philippines on $4.8m from 131, Thailand on $4.7m from 49, Malaysia on $3.8m from 98 and Singapore on $3.8m from 25, while $4.3m from 558 in India was good enough for a new Paramount record. Spain generated $4.2m from 395. The film arrives in China and Japan later this month.
On some uninspiring story of the week, Universal and Fox did not see some fireworks for their releases this week. The comedy, Larry Crowne failed to generate some interest despite having Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts on the leading role - grossing an estimated $13 million from 2,973 locations for the fourth spot. That number was pretty bad but should make merely enough to cover its $30 million budget. Distributor Universal Pictures' reported a demographic breakdown of 64 percent female and 81 percent 35 years of age and older.
Meant to counter the testosterone smell and giant robots, 20th Century Fox's Monte Carlo landed on the fifth spot with only $7.6 million from 2,473 locations. 2011 has not been a great year for chick flicks, with the exception of Bridesmaids which is still rocking on the box office. Serena Gomez and Leighton Messter star in the chick flick with 20th Century Fox's research showed that 80 percent of Monte Carlo's audience was female and 60 percent was under 25 years old.
The rest of the week's box office looks like this and is based on studio's estimation:
| Rank | Title | Weekend Gross ($) | Change (%) | Total Gross ($) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON | 97,400,000 | NEW | 162,125,000 |
| 2 | CARS 2 | 25,112,000 | -62.0 | 116,043,000 |
| 3 | BAD TEACHER | 14,100,000 | -55.4 | 59,546,000 |
| 4 | LARRY CROWNE | 13,007,000 | NEW | 13,007,000 |
| 5 | MONTE CARLO | 7,600,000 | NEW | 7,600,000 |
| 6 | SUPER 8 | 7,500,000 | -37.6 | 108,036,000 |
| 7 | GREEN LANTERN | 6,270,000 | -65.2 | 101,962,000 |
| 8 | MR POPPER'S PENGUINS | 5,100,000 | -49.7 | 50,125,000 |
| 9 | BRIDESMAIDS | 3,521,000 | -33.1 | 152,895,000 |
| 10 | MIDNIGHT IN PARIS | 3,438,000 | -17.6 | 33,638,000 |
| 11 | X-MEN: FIRST CLASS | 2,900,000 | -56.6 | 138,612,000 |
| 12 | THE HANGOVER PART II | 2,270,000 | -59.3 | 248,118,000 |
On another development, Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides reached the magical $1 billion mark worldwide. The film has earned $233.7 million domestically and $774 million internationally for a worldwide total of $1,007,703,000. The figure puts it on the seventh spot on the all-time worldwide list and has become the third movie for Johnny Depp to earn more than $1 billion - including Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ($1.066 billion) and Alice in Wonderland ($1.024 billion). Adding Toy Story 3 ($1.063 billion), "On Stranger Tides" is the fourth Walt Disney Pictures release to surpass $1 billion. The studio's Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is also in the top 10 having earned $963 million in 2007.
