Transformers: Dark of the Moon started hitting Philippine theaters June 29.
LOS ANGELES—Robots made fireworks at the box office this weekend as “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” scored the third-best worldwide debut ever with a $372-million take, according to industry figures.
In what was the biggest holiday blockbuster take on its opening weekend, the third Transformers movie in the Shia LaBeouf-starring action franchise made an estimated $162 million in North American receipts through Sunday.
Box office tracker Exhibitor Relations’ analyst Paul Degerabedian said “great word of mouth propelled a five percent Saturday uptick” in takings through the holiday weekend that included Canada Day on July 1 and the July 4 US Independence Day.
In foreign receipts the blockbuster had taken $210 million, according to industry media The Hollywood Reporter, citing the Paramount studio, bringing a worldwide total of $372 million.
That was ahead of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” which scored the best ever worldwide debut of $394 million, then Spider-Man 3 at $382 million.
However, with Monday’s projected figures in North America, Exhibitor Relations said the expected regional gross for the long-weekend would rise even higher from $162 million to $181 million.
With another sequel, Pixar’s animated “Cars 2” finished in second place over the weekend with $32 million from Friday to Monday, bringing the film’s overall earnings to $123 million to date.
“Bad Teacher,” starring Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz, brought in $17.6 million, just ahead of Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks romantic comedy “Larry Crowne,” which came in fourth on its opening weekend with $13 million.
In fifth was romantic comedy “Monte Carlo,” starring teen sensation Selena Gomez, which played well to tween girls in North America and made $8.7 million on its debut weekend.
Action spectacular “Super 8” from J.J. Abrams landed in sixth with $9.5 million in projected sales Friday to Monday, and super hero flick “Green Lantern” dimmed to seventh place and $8 million in receipts.
Waddling into eighth place was Jim Carrey-starring “Mr. Popper’s Penguins” with $6.8 million, raucous comedy “Bridesmaids” continued to hang in the top ten with $3.5 million in ninth place and Woody Allen’s romantic fantasy “Midnight in Paris” rounded out the top ten with estimated $3.4 million take.