Transformers Pours It On
You were expecting the Autobots to be toppled by Robin Williams?
True to its Fourth of July form, Transformers commanded the weekend box office with $70.5 million, per studio tallies compiled Monday by Exhibitor Relations.
And true to its form, Williams' License to Wed puttered along with $10.4 million, for a distant fourth-place debut. (So much for the numerology theory of 07-07-07 bringing good luck to new marriages—and/or new movies about marriage.)
Transformers and License to Wed both opened last Tuesday in advance of the Independence Day holiday. Any similarity between the two begins and ends there. (And, actually, Transformers began selling tickets on Monday night.)
While Transformers scooped up about $65.7 million in its first two-plus days, License to Wed scraped by with about $5 million.
The weekend only widened the gulf. Transformers continued to draw fans of the 1980s-originated toy line and cartoon series, averaging a healthy $17,577 at each of its 4,011 theaters. License to Wed, for its part, continued to be shunned, averaging only $4,002 at its 2,604 theaters.
License to Wed is Williams' weakest opening PG-13-rated comedy since 1997's Father's Day, per Box Office Mojo stats. To put it another way, even last fall's presidential dud Man of the Year got off to a bigger start ($12.3 million).
Transformers, meanwhile, posted the biggest first weekend of director Michael Bay's love-it-or-hate-it career. The filmmaker's previous best was the $59.1 million grossed by Pearl Harbor in 2001.
The Transformers' league-leading performance also gave star Shia LaBeouf bragging rights as the only leading man with two number one movies on his résumé so far this year. The 21-year-old also recently scored with Disturbia.
Elsewhere, Ratatouille and Live Free or Die Hard both aged fairly well. Last weekend's CGI-animated champ came up with another $29 million (second place) and topped the $100 million mark overall ($109.5 million, to be precise), while the Bruce Willis franchise bagged another $17.7 million (third place; $84.4 million overall).
Evan Almighty (fifth place with $8.7 million; $78.7 million overall) wheezed to within $100 million of its reputed production budget, while Knocked Up (seventh place with $5.2 million; $132.1 million overall) achieved its own milestone—quadrupling its reputed production budget.
Michael Moore's health-care indictment, Sicko, added 261 screens but saw business dip, down 20 percent to $3.6 million (ninth place; $11.5 million overall).
In its seventh weekend, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End ($3 million) fell out of the top 10 but crossed the $300 million mark domestically ($301.7 million). In its eighth, Shrek the Third ($1.5 million in 13th; $316.7million total) hit the $600 million mark worldwide ($640 million).
In limited release, the Christian Bale prisoner-of-war drama Rescue Dawn outdid Transformers, averaging $18,388 at six theaters, for an overall take of $110,326.
Here's a rundown of the top 10 films based on final Friday-Sunday figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations:
1. Transformers, $70.5 million
2. Ratatouille, $29 million
3. Live Free or Die Hard, $17.7 million
4. License to Wed, $10.4 million
5. Evan Almighty, $8.7 million
6. 1408, $7.1 million
7. Knocked Up, $5.2 million
8. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, $4.2 million
9. Sicko, $3.6 million
10. Ocean's Thirteen, $3.5 million
(Originally published July 8, 2007 at 1:29 p.m. PT.)
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