'Transformers 3' Tops Weekend B-O Worldwide

JULY 4, 2011 - As expected, Transformers: Dark of the Moon dominated the US weekend box office with an estimated US$97.4 million on approximately 9,300 screens at 4,013 locations. In the process, it rocked the Independence Day weekend gross record, eclipsing Spider-Man 2's $88.2 million, and socked Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides for the top-grossing weekend crown of 2011 so far. The Friday-to-Sunday opening salvos of Transformers and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen were US$70.5 million and US$109 million, respectively.

Dark of the Moon amassed US$156.6 million for its five-day opening (US$162.1 million total including Tuesday night previews), edging out Spider-Man 2's $152.4 million as the ninth highest-grossing five-day start ever. The last big movie to share Dark of the Moon's days and dates (Wednesday, June 29, through Sunday, July 3) was War of the Worlds in 2005, and Dark of the Moon handily out-grossed that alien invasion movie's US$100.6 million five-day launch, although the two movies had nearly identical percentage changes throughout the weekend.

Overseas in other markets, Dark Of The Moon debuted to a massive US$210 million. That's one of the biggest-grossing foreign starts ever and ranked second this year behind Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which finally passed the coveted $1 billion worldwide mark on Saturday.

In second place, Cars 2 sprang a leak. The Pixar sequel slowed 62 percent to an estimated US$25.1 million. That was the steepest second-weekend drop yet for a Pixar movie and was significantly worse than WALL-E (off 48 percent) and the first Cars (off 44 percent) at the same point.

Here are the Top 5 North American B-O studio estimates for July 1-3, 2011 weekend, in terms of rank, (previous week ranking), Movie name (studio), Weekend takings in USD, (Cumulative gross, USD) and week on chart, courtesy of Boxofficemojo. (US$1=RM3)


1. (-) Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Paramount) $97.4 million ($162.1 million) 1

2. (1) Cars 2 (Buena Vista) $25.1 million ($116.0 million) 2

3. (2) Bad Teacher (Sony/Columbia) $14.1 million ($59.5 million) 2

4. (-) Larry Crowne (Universal) $13.0 million | 2,973 | $13.0 million | 1

5. (-) Monte Carlo (Fox) $7.6 million | 2,473 | $7.6 million | 1