Box Office Report: ‘Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts’ Roars Past Expectations

Box Office analysis is provided by Daniel Garris of BoxOfficeReport.com.

Weekend Box Office Report: June 9th - June 11th, 2023

In what had been widely expected to be a close race for first place at the domestic box office this weekend between Paramount's Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and Sony's Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse; Transformers: Rise of the Beasts ultimately took first place with an estimated debut of $60.50 million. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts opened just above the high end of expectations, though at the same time the film carried an expensive price-tag. It's no secret that drawing power at the box office for the Transformers franchise isn't what it once was, especially domestically, but the opening weekend performance of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts will give the film a good chance of ultimately out-grossing 2018's Bumblebee (which finished with $127.20 million after a $21.65 million pre-Christmas opening), as well as 2017's Transformers: The Last Knight (which finished with a similar $130.17 million after a three-day opening weekend of $44.68 million and five-day launch of $68.48 million). It is also notable that Transformers: Rise of the Beasts over-performing this weekend appears to have had an impact on the percentage holds for both Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and The Little Mermaid this weekend. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, which represents the seventh film within the Transformers film series, was directed by Steven Caple Jr. and stars Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback.

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts started out with an estimated $25.65 million on Friday (which included an estimated $8.8 million from Thursday previews shows that began at 3PM and additional select early access shows on Wednesday), declined a reasonable 24.6 percent on Saturday to gross $19.35 million and is estimated to decrease 19.9 percent on Sunday to take in $15.50 million. Critical reviews for Transformers: Rise of the Beasts have been mixed, but has typically been the case with the franchise, the film looks to be going over better with audiences after receiving a healthy A- rating on CinemaScore. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts was also aided by its performance on IMAX screens, as the film's estimated $6.4 million domestic IMAX take this weekend represented 10.6 percent of this weekend's overall domestic performance. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts will lose its IMAX screens next weekend to Warner Bros.' The Flash, and in addition to the new competition from The Flash, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and holdovers in general will also face additional new competition next weekend from Disney and Pixar's Elemental and Lionsgate's The Blackening.

Internationally, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts started out with an estimated $110.0 million from 68 international markets. That places the film's global launch at $170.5 million. This weekend's international performance was led by the film's estimated $40.0 million start in China. Additional estimated international debuts for Transformers: Rise of the Beasts by international market this weekend included $7.3 million in Mexico, $5.3 million in Indonesia, $5.0 million in Peru, $4.4 million in South Korea, $3.8 million in France and $3.8 million in the United Kingdom. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts grossed an estimated $9.6 million from international IMAX screens this weekend (with an estimated $5.9 million of that total coming from China), for a global IMAX start of $16.0 million.

While it had to settle for a fairly close second place this weekend, Sony's Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse still continued to perform very well this weekend with an estimated second weekend take of $55.43 million. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse declined a sizable, but respectable 54.1 percent from last weekend. In addition to having a good second weekend hold for a high-profile comic book based sequel in general, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse also had to deal with losing its IMAX screens to Transformers: Rise of the Beasts this weekend (on top of the new direct competition from Transformers: Rise of the Beasts). With a ten-day start of $225.45 million, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse zoomed past the $200 million domestic mark this weekend, which means the film has also zoomed past the $190.24 million final total domestic gross of 2018's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (the current total gross of Across the Spider-Verse is already 18.5 percent higher than the final domestic gross of Into the Spider-Verse). The ten-day take for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is 5.0 percent higher than the $214.71 million ten-day gross of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 last month (which declined just 47.6 percent in its second weekend to gross $62.01 million, though with the aid of holding onto IMAX screens for a second week).

Internationally, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse grossed an estimated $47.0 million this weekend from 59 international markets. Respective totals for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse stand at $164.5 million internationally and at $390.0 million globally. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has also already surpassed the $377 million final total global gross of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse grossed an estimated $8.8 million in China this weekend, where the film has grossed $34.1 million to date. Additional estimated totals for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse by international market through Sunday include $20.3 million in the United Kingdom, $19.9 million in Mexico, $10.9 million in Australia, $8.0 million in Brazil, $6.9 million in France, $4.8 million in India, $4.5 million in Germany, $4.5 million in Italy and $4.5 million in Spain. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will open in Japan this coming Friday (June 16).
Disney's The Little Mermaid placed in third this weekend with an estimated $22.79 million. That represented a 44.9 percent decline from last weekend. While The Little Mermaid started to show signs of stabilizing this weekend, it should also be noted that the film's third weekend decline was a bit larger than the 42.4 percent third weekend decline of 2019's Aladdin (for a third weekend take of $24.68 million) and that was with The Little Mermaid holding onto all of its locations this weekend, whereas Aladdin lost 671 locations in its third frame. The Little Mermaid has grossed $228.81 million in 17 days, which places the film a slim 1.6 percent behind the $232.57 million 17-day take of Aladdin. However, next weekend The Little Mermaid will have to deal with new competition from the mentioned fellow new Disney release Elemental. The Little Mermaid is still in good shape to finish among this summer's top films domestically, but it should be reminded that the film carries a very expensive price-tag.

With the aid of a $5.0 million debut in Japan this weekend, The Little Mermaid grossed an estimated $29.9 million internationally this weekend from 52 international markets. This weekend saw The Little Mermaid pass the $400 million global mark. Respective totals for the film stand at $185.4 million internationally and at $414.2 million globally. Estimated totals for The Little Mermaid by international market through Sunday include $24.8 million in the United Kingdom, $18.0 million in Mexico, $13.1 million in Brazil, $11.0 million in Italy, $10.1 million in Australia, $9.6 million in France, $9.0 million in Spain, $8.3 million in Germany, $5.4 million in the Philippines and $5.0 million in Argentina.

Disney and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 placed in fourth with an estimated $7.03 million. That was a very solid 34.2 percent decline from last weekend and brings the 38-day domestic total for the film to $335.40 million. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has now surpassed the $333.18 million grossed by 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy in its initial run (without taking into account ticket price inflation). This weekend also saw Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 surpass the $800 million global mark. The film grossed an estimated $6.7 million internationally this weekend from 52 international markets. That brings the international total for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 to $470.5 million and the film's current global haul to $805.9 million.

Disney / 20th Century's The Boogeyman followed very closely behind in fifth place with an estimated $6.92 million. The Boogeyman held up quite nicely in its second weekend, as the PG-13 rated horror film was down 44.0 percent from last weekend. With a ten-day domestic total of $24.74 million, The Boogeyman already has a current total gross to opening weekend ratio of 2.00 to 1. Internationally, The Boogeyman grossed an estimated $4.2 million this weekend from 50 international markets. Respective totals for the film stand at $14.9 million internationally and at $39.6 million globally. Estimated totals for The Boogeyman by international market through Sunday include $1.5 million in Mexico, $1.4 million in the United Kingdom, $1.3 million in France, $0.9 million in Australia, $0.9 million in Germany and $).8 million in Spain.

Universal's Fast X placed in sixth with an estimated $5.20 million. After being quite front-loaded thus far, Fast X finally stabilized some this weekend by declining 45.8 percent. The 24-day domestic total for Fast X stands at $138.13 million. Fast X continues to perform far stronger internationally, as the film grossed an estimated $20.6 million this weekend from 84 international markets. That brings the film's international total past the $500 million mark to $514.7 million and the film's current global haul to $652.8 million.

On the platform front, A24's Past Lives continued to impress with an estimated $520,772 from 26 locations. That gave the critically acclaimed Celine Song directed film a strong per-location average of $20,030 for the frame. Past Lives finished in tenth place among all films this weekend. The ten-day platform start for Past Lives stands at $0.867 million. Past Lives will expand to additional cities next weekend, before receiving a nationwide expansion the following week on Friday, June 23.

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