‘Transformers’ Climbs To $97.5M, Aims For Records LOS ANGELES (AP) — The latest “Transformers” sequel might set some revenue records over Fourth of July weekend.
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon” has $97.5 million in the bank at the domestic box office since opening Tuesday night. Distributor Paramount estimated Saturday that the movie could top the holiday weekend records held by “Spider-Man 283; and “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.”
“Spider-Man 283; holds the three-day record for the Fourth of July with $88.2 million from Friday to Sunday. Paramount says “Dark of the Moon” should come in about $10 million above that.
The studio also says “Dark of the Moon” could finish slightly ahead of the five-day record $157.6 million that “Eclipse” took in from Wednesday to Sunday over the holiday weekend last summer.
But today’s admission prices are much higher than they were for 200482;s “Spider-Man 2,” while 60 percent of business for “Dark of the Moon” came from 3-D tickets, which cost a few dollars more than regular 2-D screenings.
Neither “Spider-Man 283; nor “Eclipse” had that 3-D price advantage, meaning both movies likely sold more tickets over opening weekend than “Dark of the Moon” will.
Still, the sequel has joined the previous two “Transformers” movies as global blockbusters. Paramount estimates that “Dark of the Moon” will have taken in $200 million overseas in 111 countries through Sunday.
The studio says that by the end of the holiday weekend Monday, combined domestic and international grosses for “Dark of the Moon” will be about $400 million.
The new movie still trails the domestic haul of the last “Transformers,” though. “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” pulled in $127.9 million in its first three days, Wednesday to Friday, in 2009. That’s about $30 million more than “Dark of the Moon.”