‘Transformers’ has its worst opening yet
‘Wonder Woman’ and ‘Cars 3’ are neck and neck for second place
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.
Wonder Woman and Pixar’s Cars 3 tied for second place, both with $25.2 million. Nearly a month after opening, 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.
Kumail Nanjiani’s romantic comedy The Big Sick landed the best per-screen average of the year. It opened in just five theaters, grossing an average of $87,000 from each.
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.