It’s curtains for Paramount’s Transformers One. The animated film under-performed in its opening weekend, and despite excellent reviews and audience response, is being eaten alive by this week’s newcomer (and direct competitor), The Wild Robot. DreamWorks’ latest animated offering is over-performing in its debut weekend, almost as if audiences were holding out for it. The movie grossed an estimated $11 million on its first day of release — this includes the nearly $2 million that it made in Thursday previews — and is projected to gross around $35 million across the weekend.
This represents a $10 million increase over Transformers One’s $25 million opening last weekend. Transformers One will slip to the number three spot in its sophomore frame, as it aims for around $10 million, taking its running domestic total to around $40 million by Sunday. This would mark a rough 59% decline, which doesn’t bode well for the film’s future. From Pixar veteran Josh Cooley — he co-wrote the acclaimed hit Inside Out and directed Toy Story 4 — Transformers One holds an astonishing 98% audience score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes. During the week, it seemed like this appreciation was paying off, but The Wild Robot’s over-performance turned out to be a deciding factor.
Directed by Chris Sanders and executive produced by Dean DeBlois, The Wild Robot is no slouch either. Based on the book series of the same name by Peter Brown, the movie holds a near-perfect 98% approval rating on RT. The film’s audience rating is equally excellent. It also earned a strong A CinemaScore from opening day crowds, in addition to a rave review from Collider’s Shaina Weatherhead. She called it “a jaw-dropping and tear-jerking endeavor.” All of this acclaim will certainly go a long way in ensuring a lucrative few weeks for the animated fable, inspired by the works of Hayao Miyazaki.
‘Megalopolis’ Is Falling Short of a Foreign Film from India
The number two spot is going to director Tim Burton’s holdover hit Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which grossed around $4 million on its fourth Friday, and is poised to generate over $15 million this weekend. This should take the film’s running domestic total past the $250 million mark by Sunday. In a bit of a surprise, however, director Francis Ford Coppola’s self-funded epic Megalopolis is poised to debut at the number five spot, behind a foreign-language film that’s playing in significantly fewer venues. Megalopolis, which had difficulty finding domestic distribution after premiering to divisive response at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, is eying less than $5 million in its opening weekend, after grossing around $2 million on Friday.
The movie’s rancid D+ CinemaScore is certainly not helping matters. Megalopolis also continues a sorry streak for Lionsgate, which has released flops such as Borderlands, The Crow, and The Killer’s Game in recent weeks. Because of the movie’s under-performance, India’s Devara: Part 1is poised to claim the number four spot. The action epic, starring RRR’s Jr. NTR, is expected to gross over $6 million this weekend, after generating around $4 million on opening day. Stay tuned to Collider for more box office coverage over the weekend.
