The Autobots rolled out and once again dominated the box office scene this weekend with Paramount’s release of the new sequel, “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.” The film topped the weekend box office, beating the highly acclaimed “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” in its second weekend of release. As reported by Deadline, the new “Transformers” live-action feature has grossed an estimated $60.5 million domestically and $170.5 million worldwide.
While “Rise of the Beasts” was unappreciated by critics, scoring 52% on Rotten Tomatoes, the film seems to be doing better with audiences. Its audience rating is currently 92%. Additionally, the film had a considerably higher opening take than its predecessor, the 2018 film “Bumblebee”, which had much better reviews and opened to $21.6 million in December 2018. grossed $127 million domestically and $467 million worldwide.
It also had a much higher opening weekend than the last Michael Bay-directed “Transformers” movie, “Transformers: The Last Knight,” which had a $44 million opening weekend in July. 2017, ending with just $130 million domestic and $605 million worldwide. , prompting Paramount to launch a soft reboot of the franchise starting with “Bumblebee”.
What works against “Rise of the Beasts” favor is its incredibly high budget. It has an advertised price of around $200 million, which likely doesn’t include marketing and distribution costs. The summer tent release schedule looks very competitive for the rest of June and later in July. June 16 will see the release of DC’s “The Flash” from Warner Bros. and “Elemental” from Disney and Pixar. Additionally, “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Fate” hits theaters on June 30.
Meanwhile, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” still had a strong showing in its second fame despite losing to “Transformers” over the weekend. The film earned an additional $55.4 million to its domestic take over the weekend, bringing its current North American total to $225.4 million. It only dropped about 54% over the weekend, which is fitting for a movie based on comic book superheroes. Comic book movies tend to be very front-loaded, so a drop of less than 55% in its second weekend is decent.
“Across the Spider-Verse” has so far grossed an estimated $313 million worldwide. The sequel has already surpassed the previous film’s $190 million in theaters, which ended at $384 million worldwide. The sequel is expected to end much higher before leaving the theaters market.
Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” is continuing decently in domestic theaters. It finished at No. 3 and only dropped 44% in its third weekend of release, grossing another $22.7 million. It is now sitting on $228 million domestically.
Finally, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” came in at #4 with an additional $7 million, bringing its current domestic total to $335.4 million and around $805 million worldwide. It did not top the domestic and global catches of $333 million and $773 million, respectively. While it seems unlikely to hit the $389 million of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” it looks like it has a decent chance of beating the second movie’s $863 million worldwide finish.
“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” based on the Hasbro action figure franchise, is directed by Steven Caple Jr. and stars Anthony Ramos, Dominique Fishback, Peter Cullen, Ron Perlman, Pete Davidson, and Michelle Yeoh. It is now playing in theaters.