Box Office, Transformers | featured news

My sources say Sony Pictures’ superhero reboot The Amazing Spider-Man opened with $35M (though some rival studios put the number in the neighborhood of $32M tonight). It easily sets a new domestic record for a Tuesday opening – helped by its 3D premium pricing – and is ahead of the original 2D Transformers ($27.8M) that debuted on Tuesday July 3rd, 2007. ”That is one huge number,” a Sony exec gushed to me tonight. “Unbelievable start to what should be a very exciting 6 days.”

After earning an impressive $16.4 million domestically on Monday, James Cameron's Avatar added another $16.1 million on Tuesday! That's the second-highest number for a non-opening film ever (behind The Dark Knight 's $20.9 million) and third-biggest Tuesday of all-time, trailing only The Dark Knight and Transformers , which opened on a Tuesday in 2007 and earned $27.9 million.

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.

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.

Nabs best midnight run ever for a Wednesday -- Paramount's "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" grossed an estimated $16 million in midnight runs, the second best ever after "The Dark Knight."

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.