Transformers: Rise of the Beasts takes over the box office from Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
In the battle of box office supremacy, it was Transformers: Rise of the Beasts that ultimately emerged victorious over Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. The latest entry in the Transformers franchise, which is technically a sequel to Bumblebee, yet set in 1994 as a prequel to the preceding films, took in US$60.5m in its first weekend across 3,678 locations in North America, according to studio estimates.
A new look for Transformers
With a fresh cast led by Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback, and directed by Steven Caple Jr, Rise of the Beasts seeks to reset the Transformers franchise and give it a fresh lease of life. The new release has earned US$110m from 68 international markets, giving it a global debut of US$170.5m. Critics have been somewhat underwhelmed by Rise of the Beasts, which holds a less-than-fresh 52% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The battle between humanity and metal
According to a review by AP’s Mark Kennedy, the balancing act between human and machine is a recurring issue across all the Transformers films, including Rise of the Beasts: “The problem with Rise of the Beasts is the same problem faced by all of the installments — balancing the humanity with the metal,” he wrote. In the surveys from PostTrak, audiences gave the film a more positive score, rating it at 4.5 stars out of five.
Transformers’ international box office prowess
A US opening of USD60.5m may not seem like a vast sum, given the movie’s production budget of around USD200m, but it is important to note that the film will earn most of its money overseas. Indeed, international sales have accounted for at least 70% of the global box office earnings of all the Transformers films since the third release in the series, 2011’s Dark of the Moon. Two of the films, Dark of the Moon and Age of Extinction (2014), raked in over US$1bn each.
Spider-Verse falls to second place
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which opened with an impressive US$55.4m, fell to a respectable second place in its second weekend, earning around 54% less than it did originally.
Disney films continue to do well
Disney continued its strong representation in the top five films. Round out the top five are Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in fourth place with $7 million in its sixth weekend and The Boogeyman in weekend two taking fifth place with $6.9 million. In third place was The Little Mermaid, which earned $23 million in its third weekend, where it’s playing in 4,320 locations in the US and Canada – the live-action film has made $414.2m globally to date.
Original property causing a stir in the specialty space
While many films in the top 10 are well-known brands or IP, one original property, A24’s Past Lives, is creating a buzz. Celine Song’s romance earned an outstanding $520,772 playing on only 26 screens in its second weekend, giving it a per-screen average of $20,030. It expands nationwide on 23 June.
Summer movie season sets to remain hot
The summer movie season is set to heat up further with major new releases arriving almost every week. Families can enjoy Pixar’s Elemental in the coming weekend while The Flash caters to the superhero crowd.
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