Flying in the face of critics, Transformers: Dark of the Moon has topped the box office over the weekend, and smashed its way into the records for 2011 with a four day taking of AUD$12,392,000 from 253 locations.
According to the Paramount press release, “This four day total represents the biggest opening weekend at the Australian box office this year and, together with the results from last Wednesday, takes the overall box office to an incredible AUD$15,032,000 after just five days“.
It wasn’t just Australia that flocked to see the robots in disguise either. Opening in 58 markets to gross US$210.0 million from 9,075 locations. “The third installment in the Transformers franchise shredded a host of box office records as it claimed #1 in 57 of the 58 territories it was released in and topped the opening of Transformers 2 by 51%. 70% of the overall gross was generated by 3D this weekend. Combined with the domestic result, this release became the industry’s third highest grossing worldwide debut ever with US$372 million. The US$210 million opening weekend represented Paramount Pictures International’s biggest opening weekend ever, surpassing Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull which opened with US$147 million“.
With the combined total of the first two films already at $1.5 billion, it seems that the third entry will easily push the franchise past the $2 billion mark shortly. So it seems that despite the protests of practically everyone involved, there will undoubtedly be a fourth entry in the Transformers franchise and it will probably cost even more than this one.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon is released in Australia on 29 June 2011 from Paramount.
The Reel Bits is the cinema arm of DVD Bits. Richard can be found on Twitter @DVDBits and Sarah @swardplay. The Reel Bits is also @The_ReelBits.
