It was touch and go for a bit, but Transformers: Age of Extinction has apparently brought in an estimated $100 million for its opening weekend, becoming the first film of 2014 to hit such a mark.
After $41.6 million on Friday it started to look like $100+ million was inevitable, but the fact Paramount is estimating that number exactly leads me to believe they aren’t too confident it will go much higher, but feel it’s safe to say it will at least cross the century mark because wouldn’t that be embarrassing if actuals came in lower? As they normally do.
This makes Age of Extinction the highest opening of the year so far, here’s the top five
- Transformers: Age of Extinction – $100 million
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier – $95.0 million
- Godzilla – $93.1 million
- The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – $91.6 million
- X-Men: Days of Future Past – $90.8 million
Here’s how the previous Transformers films opened, but remember the first Transformers opened wide on a Tuesday while Revenge of the Fallen and Dark of the Moon both opened wide on a Wednesday; Revenge of the Fallen pulling in $91.1 million before in its first two days and Dark of the Moon hauling in $64.7M before its first Friday.
- Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – $108.9 million ($402,111,870 total)
- Transformers: Age of Extinction – $100 million
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon – $97.8 million ($352,390,543 total)
- Transformers – $70.5 million ($319,246,193 total)
After $41.6 million on Friday, Paramount estimates $32.15 million for Age of Extinction on Saturday, which means only $26.2 million on Sunday as this one is already beginning to fade fast. So how high will it go domestically? Probably around $300 million I’d guess and with what is now reported to be a $210 million budget (much higher than the originally thought $165M), it’s going to need big numbers overseas where it brought in $201.3 million already, $90 million of that from China alone. Seems shooting that last hour of the film in Hong Kong made a pretty big difference.
It was a big drop for last weekend’s champ as Think Like a Man Too dropped a hefty 65%, bringing in $11 million, meanwhile in second was 22 Jump Street with $15.4 million, bringing its cume to $139.8 million domestically.
There’s still no plateauing for How to Train Your Dragon 2, which dropped another 47% this weekend, finishing in third with $13 million, it’s domestic cume now at $121 million, $12 million behind the original at this point. I know one film that’s liking this, Disney’s Planes: Fire & Rescue, which will try and capture the family audience in mid-July.
Clint Eastwood‘s Jersey Boys didn’t dip too far, dropping 43% for a $7.6 million sophomore session, bringing its total to $27 million so far.
In limited release, Joon-ho Bong‘s Snowpiercer opened in eight theaters and brought in $162,000 for a $20,000 per theater average. That average was topped by the Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo music-driven pic Begin Again, opening in five theaters and bringing in $148,325 for a $29,665 per theater average.
Next weekend sees the release of Tammy and Deliver Us from Evil, any chance either of those is able to knock Transformers off its perch?
