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.”
Marvel's "Ghost Rider" just hired one of the best cinematographers working today. Linus Sandgren will serve as DP on Shawn Levy's MCU flick, and, most notably, the project will be shot on film.