‘ Transformers’ has its worst opening yet MOVIES

‘ Wonder Woman’ and ‘ Cars 3’ neck and neck for second

NEW YORK The hulking machines of Transformers are no longer box- office behemoths in North America. But they’re still big in China.

Michael Bay’s Transformers: The Last Knight, the fifth installment in the series, scored a franchise- low domestic debut with an estimated $ 43.5 million in ticket sales for the weekend and a five- day total of $ 69.1 million since Wednesday. All previous Transformers sequels opened with $ 97 million- plus. But The Last Knight, the second Transformers movie to star Mark Wahlberg, still showed its might overseas, collecting $ 196.2 million internationally.

Future business will tell whether those grosses are enough to cover the huge expenses: $ 217 million to make, plus nearly as much to market. Studios reap a smaller percentage of ticket sales from Chinese theaters. And re- views were worse for The Last

Knight than the earlier films. Audiences gave this one a B- plus at CinemaScore. Transformers has been increasingly skewing international. 2014’ s Age of Extinction made $ 858.6 million of its $ 1.1 billion global haul abroad.

“Transformers is built for a global audience,” said Kyle Davies, Paramount’s president of distribution. “You really have to consider how we did in the overall, and it was really strong overseas and in China.”

Wonder Woman and Pixar’s Cars 3 tied for second place, both with $ 25.2 million. Nearly a month after opening, Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman continues to be a major draw. In four weeks, it surpassed $ 300 million domestically. At $ 652.9 million globally, it’s the highest- grossing film directed by a woman, not accounting for inflation.

Fourth place went to Mandy

Moore shark thriller 47 Meters Down, with $ 7.4 million. Tupac Shakur biopic All Eyez on Me fell to fifth with $ 5.9 million.

In limited release, Kumail Nanjiani’s romantic comedy The Big Sick landed the best perscreen average of the year. It opened in five theaters, grossing an average of $ 87,000 from each. Amazon plunked down $ 12 million for the Judd Apatow- produced Sundance Film Festival hit.

Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled wasn’t far behind. In four theaters, it earned a per- screen average of $ 60,000. The film, starring Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst and Colin Farrell, is a remake of a 1971 Civil War- era gothic thriller about a wounded Union soldier taken in by a Southern all- girls school.

Final figures are expected Monday.

PARAMOUNT PICTURES The Last Knight earned $ 43.5 million, but offset that with strong overseas numbers.