Projections had “Transformers One” having a $35M-$40M opening weekend, especially after posting a strong $3.5M in Thursday previews. Well, that clearly didn’t happen. “Transformers One,” which has a budget of $75M, only grossed $25M this weekend. A massive failure for a film that was relentlessly being hyped up in geek circles.
What this means is that Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” which earned $26M over the weekend, will remain at #1 for the third weekend in a row. Burton’s sequel has earned $226M domestically, but only $103M worldwide. The infatuation U.S. audiences seem to have for “The Juice” isn’t translating overseas. Regardless, the film has a $90M budget and already made its money back.
Meanwhile, Alexandre Aja’s “Never Let Go,” starring Halle Berry, is looking at a $4M weekend against a $20M budget. Another dud from Lionsgate, a studio already in the midst of a trainwreck year with a holy trinity of box-office (“Borderlands,” “The Crow,” and inevitably “Megalopolis.”).
Next Friday sees the release of DreamWorks’ animated “The Wild Robot,” which has been tracking at around $30M, no doubt spurred by the excellent reviews it received at TIFF. It’ll give “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” a run for its money. The other releases include “Megalopolis,” “Lee,” and “Bagman.”