‘Transformers’ runs out of gas

NEW YORK (AP) – 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 Hasbro series, scored a franchise-low domestic debut with an estimated $43.5 million in ticket sales over the weekend and a five-day total of $69.1 million since opening Wednesday. All previous “Transformers” sequels opened with $97 million-plus.

But Paramount Pictures’ “The Last Knight,” the second “Transformers” movie to star Mark Wahlberg, still showed its might overseas. It took in $196.2 million internationally, including an impressive $123.4 million in China.

Future business will tell whether those grosses are enough to cover a hugely expensive movie: $217 million to make, plus nearly as much to market. Studios reap a smaller percentage of ticket sales from Chinese theaters. And reviews – though never much of a factor in “Transformers” land – were worse for “The Last Knight” than the earlier films. Audiences gave this one a B-plus CinemaScore.

Yet “Transformers” has been increasingly skewing international. The previous film, “Age of Extinction,” made $858.6 million of its $1.1 billion global haul abroad.