Saturday Box Office: 'Transformers: Age of Extinction' Eyeing $300M Worldwide Debut
After Friday night's spectacular $41.6 million haul for Transformers: Age of Extinction, the movie has gone on to rake in $100 million in North America alone. Coupled with the massive $201.3 million in overseas numbers, including a record-breaking $90 million in China (making it the biggest opening weekend of all-time in the country), the blockbuster is headed for a worldwide debut of $301.3 million.
What's most staggering about this is that the film, which is already the top opening of the year internationally, won't even debut in most of Europe and Latin America until after the World Cup. So this is merely a taste of what kind of money the movie still stands to make internationally. Before it's all said and done, it might not just be the most successful film in the Transformers franchise, but the most successful film of the summer -- if not the year.
Paramount Pictures is clearly thrilled with the performance. Vice chairman Rob Moore said the Michael Bay film, which sees Mark Wahlberg taking over the lead role from the troubled Shia LaBeouf, marks a new beginning for the franchise. "Mark is incredibly likable and together, Michael and Mark have refreshed the franchise. You definitely see the great chemistry between them," said Moore.
In other box office news, 22 Jump Street is projected to take the No. 2 spot, bringing in $15.4 million in its third weekend, for a domestic total of $139.8 million. This already surpasses the entire domestic gross of the first movie in the comedy franchise, 21 Jump Street. The first entry grossed $138.4 million in 2012.
Expected to finish in third is How to Train Your Dragon 2, which earned $13.1 million, raising its North American total to $121.8 million. At number four is Think Like a Man Too, raking in $10.4 million for a new domestic haul of $48.2 million. And rounding out the top 5 is Disney's Maleficent, which brought in $8.2 million to finally bring the film past the $200 million threshold. The current North American total for the surprise hit is $201.9 million.
We'll be back tomorrow with the final box office numbers for the weekend. As it stands now, it's basically just Transformers...and then everybody else.
Credit: Paramount Pictures