Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen, Box Office Opening | featured news

FRIDAY PM/SATURDAY AM: Sources tell me that Warner Bros' Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince made $26 million Friday for what's looking like an $80M three-day weekend and a $160M first-five-day total. "I guess the answer is pretty straightforward: No, Harry Potter 6 won't get close to Transformers 2," a rival studio exec emailed me tonight. "And it's faltering quickly, getting farther behind TF2 every day."

Twentieth Century Fox's 3-D toon "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" froze out Paramount's "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" at the Wednesday box office, grossing an estimated $13.8 million as it opened in 3,993 runs.

Fox's Ice Age 3-D: Dawn of the Dinosaurs opened very promisingly with $14 million Wednesday, $11.5M Thursday, $17M Friday, and $11M Saturday from 4,099 venues for a $43M 3-day weekend -- a photo finish with Transformers 2. (Rival studios had been claiming the pic wasn't tracking well with young boys, and that's why 20th sneaked it at 330 theaters recently. But Fox said it "added an additional marketing layer prior to the onslaught of TF2." But the public clearly hasn't tired of 3-D toons.) The threequel came out on top with a $68M 5-day holiday even though Saturday grosses were weak.

Pic scores best five-day haul after 'Dark Knight' -- Paramount's sequel "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" grossed an estimated $201.2 million from 4,234 theaters at the domestic box office to score the best five-day haul ever after "The Dark Knight."

Variety says that early estimates for Thursday show Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen earning another $27 million, bringing its two-day domestic total to $87 million.

It's now officially a rock-'em, sock-'em summer! Paramount's Transformers 2: Revenge Of The Fallen shattered the Wednesday opening record set by Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix (#5) in 2007 - $60.6M vs $44.2M. Even better for the studio, Transformers 2 came in 2nd only to 2008 box office phenomenon The Dark Knight for biggest opening day ever: $60.6M vs $67.1M. So now 2007 Spider-Man 3's $59.8M single day take drops down to #3. The robot sequel grosses from 4,234 North American theaters are $16M more than Paramount expected. That puts the sci-fi actioner on track for a $175M five-day opening despite overwhelmingly lousy reviews. But Paramount boasted how exit polling showed that 91% of the audience said "they liked this movie as much or better than the first". So this Decepticons vs Autobots battle is reviewer-proof.