Saturday Box Office: 'Transformers: Age of Extinction' Eyeing $53.8 Million Holiday
The projections for the July 4th holiday weekend are that much closer to coming true following a successful Saturday at the box office: it's looking like Transformers: Age of Extinction is en route to a second straight week as the nation's #1 movie, raking in $53.8 million for a domestic total of $174.7 million.
This was enough to easily conquer all would-be challengers, as the only movie that came close was the new Melissa McCarthy vehicle, Tammy. The R-rated comedy came in at No. 2 with $32.9 million for the Wednesday-Sunday stretch. This is a disappointment following the $39 million debut of The Heat last year, as well as the $34.6 million premiere of Identity Thief. But this is not to say that there are no positives to be found here. For one, the movie has already made back its modest $20 million budget. Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, the studio is still 100% behind McCarthy.
"There's nothing wrong here," said Dan Fellman, the distribution chief at Warner Bros. "It's true that tracking was more favorable for us going into the weekend, but this was a $20 million movie. This is a movie Melissa did by herself with her husband. It doesn't have a big supporting star like [Sandra Bullock]."
Another bonus is that it bested other newcomers such as Deliver Us From Evil, a horror pic that opened to about $15 million (and well below its $20 million projections). In addition, Tammy also won out over America's incumbent #1 comedy, 22 Jump Street, which landed at No. 3 this weekend.
The numbers are still coming in, but we'll be back tomorrow with the final weekend totals. However, it's been yet another big week for the Transformers franchise, and its reign is not expected to end any time soon.
Credit: Paramount Pictures