Three cheers for the lowest common denominator! Despite being trashed by critics as crass, vulgar, dumb and loud — typical Michael Bay fodder, but even execrable by his low standards — audiences responded in droves to shit blowin’ up real good in “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” As you’d imagine, the film debuted at number one and took in $112 million from Friday to Sunday. Sure, this is no surprise, Bay movies are critic-proof, but even the online geek community, CHUD, AICN, etc. seemed to savage the film, but not even the herd turning against the “Transformers” franchise they seemed to love so much last time, could make a dent in the audiences, who gave the film a huge thumbs-up with their ticket receipts (Not you give a rat’s ass, but sorry for no box-office preview this week, MJ’s death waylaid us hard; no not emotionally, at the j.o.b.)
“Revenge Of The Fallen,” has grossed a ridiculously high $200 million in the U.S. since it was released on Wednesday and has hauled in $280 million worldwide so far. Sounds amazing and it’s no major revelatory prediction to say the film is on track to be the highest grossing film of the year, but profit wise, ‘ROTFL’ still needs some more cushion to make a comfortable earning as it stands right now. The budget was reportedly $200 million and P&A around the world is probably another $50 million? As of right now, ‘Transformers 2′ has probably only turned a small profit. But it’s way early in the game and by these numbers surely $350 million within the U.S. seems like a feasible number. Then again, there could be massive drop-off next weekend, when plebe word of mouth starts to spread and even yo-yo ham n’ eggers realize it’s far too dumb and long, even for them. Either way, Paramount‘s pretty mediocre year, just got a boost of confidence and even when yelled at by the arrogant director, they’re probably happy they’re in the Michael Bay business. Even if there is dramatic drop-off next weekend (it should be able to best “Public Enemies,” and “Bruno,” easily, frankly), less discerning international audiences should help the noisy, plotless behemoth continue to turn a huge profit. “Angels & Demons” is currently the highest grossing film of the year internationally with $430-some million already in the bank, but it’s very conceivable that ‘Transformers’ has the non-smarts to best this number.
Number two this weekend was the Ryan Reynolds, Sandra Bullock rom-com “The Proposal,” has grossed a very healthy $69 million so far this summer. $100 million definitely seems within reach and we should either expect “The Proposal 2,” or solid proof that American audiences miss their sweetheart Sandy Bullock, and so expect more broad, silly rom-coms like this from her, stat.
Hollywood’s biggest, left-field comedy hit of the year, “The Hangover” still hangs on to its top 3 box-office domination adding another $17 million to its incredibly strong $183 million total. $200 million should be achieved within a week and a half, which is outrageous, considering this was a comedy with no discernible stars. When was the last time a comedy grossed $200 million? For perspective, during last year’s recession-free box-office, the highest grossing male-centric comedy of 2008 was “Tropic Thunder*,” which grossed $110 million after three months at the box-office. Obviously, ‘Hangover’ has greatly bested that number in three weeks. At this point a $250 million dollar total seems within reach. This is definitely Todd Phillips‘ year and you have to wonder… he all of a sudden has so much cache, maybe he can green light a pet project comedy before “The Hangover 2“sequel? [ed. That’s what I’d do I were him].* “Four Christmases” took in $120 million if you want to consider a bigger, male-centric 2008 comedy).
The other big debut of the week was the counter programmed, “My Sister’s Keeper,” starring Cameron Diaz which took in $12 million, which is not bad considering how many girlfriends were probably dragged to ‘Transformers’ and the budget was presumably low, but obviously not a major number for a studio film (Warner Bros). It nabbed the #5 slow and maybe female audiences can help this one slowly crawl to a $30 million-plus total? Either that, or it’s dead in the water now.
Pixar’s “Up” scooped up the #4 slot and raked in another $13 million to add to its impressive $250 million total. Surely, this one is going to end up being one of the top 5 grossing films of 2009. “Year One,” slid further down the top 10 to #6 and so far it only has a $32 million gross. Presumably, next week it will have fallen out of the top 10 and for Sony, the lame-duck comedy will probably be seen as a tax write-off.
Biggest bomb of the summer? If you would have told Sony last year that after three weeks a Tony Scott film like, “The Taking of Pelham 123,” would have only grossed $53 million in three weeks, you probably would have been laughed out the door, but this is where the film sits thus far, and breaking $75 million feels doubtful at this point. With a budget presumably north of $70 mill, Sony will probably take a bath on this one too. But an even bigger bomb is “Land of the Lost,” which cost upwards of $100 million and has only grossed $46 million so far. Pitiful numbers really and it sends a message to Hollywood: stars in remakes no one cared about in the first place (a TV show with a negligible following) is never a guarantee to print money. Also taking a major bath is Eddie Murphy’s stock. After three weeks, “Imagine That,” a film that should have enticed the kids/family market has only pulled in $14 million. Those numbers hurt.
The rest of the top 10 is as you’d imagine with things like “Night At The Museum 2” and “Star Trek” having lots of staying power with huge cumes. The only indie in the top 10 with legs seems to be Sam Mendes‘ “Away We Go,” which has expanded past its small limited release opening and has taken in $4 million so far which is not bad all things considered (it’s still only in 425 theaters across the country; compare: ‘Transformers 2’ besieged the country in 4,200+ theaters).
In the limited release indie circuit, Kathryn Bigelow‘s gripping Iraq War drama, “The Hurt Locker,” took in impressive numbers. Only on four screens across the entire country, the film amassed $144,000, making for an oscreen average of $36,000, which bested recent indie onscreen averages earned by “Whatever Works,” and “Away We Go.” Highest limited release opening of 2009? You’d think, no? But nope, that distinction was achieved by “Sunshine Cleaning” earlier this year. Comparatively, Stephen Frears‘ “Cheri,” didn’t do all that well, taking in $408,000 on 76 screens, for a $5,368 average. Presumably, when “The Hurt Locker,” moves into wider release, it’s going to move some serious indie-level units.
Box-Office Weekend Results
1. “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” – $112,000,000 (total so far: $201 million)
2. “The Proposal”- $18,466,000 (total so far: $69 million)
3. “The Hangover” – $17,215,000 (total so far: $183 million)
4. “Up” – $13,046,000 – (total so far: $250 million)
5. “My Sister’s Keeper”- $12,030,000 – (total so far: $12 million)
6. “Year One” – $5,800,000 (total so far: $32 million)
7. “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3” – $5,400,000 (total so far: $53 million)
8. “Star Trek” – $3,606,000 (total so far: $246 million)
9. “Night at the Museum 2” – $3,500,000 (total so far: $163 million)
10. “Away We Go” – $1,678,000 (total so far: $4 million)
