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Independence Day Box Office: How Hard Up Were You to Sit Through Transformers: Dark of the Moon?

By Dustin Rowles | Posted Under Box Office Round-Ups | Comments (19)

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  • Transformers: Dark of the Moon became had the biggest 4th of July opening weekend ever, racking up $116 million over the four-day weekend and $181 million since it opened last Tuesday night. It also earned $210 million overseas, making it Paramount’s biggest overseas opener of all time. It broke box-office opening weekend records in South Korea, Hong Kong, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Peru and Panama. It was also the biggest opening weekend of the year in the United States. Despite that, Dark of the Moon actually had 15 percent fewer attendees than did the first Transformers movie.

  • Bridesmaids surpassed Sex and the City this weekend to become the highest grossing R-Rated female ensemble comedy of all time (the highest grossing R-Rated movie directed by a female is still a mystery). Bridesmaids also become Universal’s most successful romantic comedy, the 7th highest grossing romantic comedy of all time and Judd Apatow’s top-grossing film of all time, either as a producer or a director.

  • Meanwhile, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides surpassed $1 billion in movie ticket sales globally over the weekend, the second Pirates film to do so. It also become the third biggest box-office hit internationally of all time.

  • Larry Crowne landed at number four for the weekend, mustering a disappointing $15.4 million despite the so-called star power of Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. 93 percent of its audience was over the age of 25. Seventy-one percent were over the age of 50. Seventy one percent. There are Friday night bingo games with fewer old people.

  • In at second place was Cars 2, boasting the second biggest second-weekend dropoff for a Pixar movie ever, falling 60 percent. The movie may struggle to reach $200 million.

  • The other weekend debut, Monte Carlo made less than $9 million and opened at number six, a slightly better opening than Selena Gomez’s last film, Ramona and Beezus.

    What does it all mean? It means that people, by and large, were starved for entertainment over the fourth of July weekend and their options were limited. If you live in a city without a decent independent theater, there have only been four decently reviewed wide releases this summer: X-Men: First Class, Bridesmaids, Thor and Super 8, and nothing since June 10th. If you like to see a lot of movies, I feel bad for you. This is a big part of the problem for the summer blockbuster season: Huge movies stake out a weekend two years in advance (se e: The 13 Most Anticipated Films of 2013) and no one dares to open anything decent against them, worried that audiences will choose the spectacle over the better reviewed film. But, if there had been better options facing Dark of the Moon, Green Lantern, On Stranger Tides and Bad Teacher, I think audiences would’ve taken the bait. Larry Crowne didn’t fail because it was against Transformers; it failed because it was a bad movie (with a bad marketing campaign).

    Big fourth of July movies are big, in part, because studios give us no other choices. Check out the films that opened against 4th of July tentpoles over the last several years: Rebound, Blood Work, License to Wed, The Last Airbender, Out to Sea, Phenomenon, and Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde. Those films didn’t fail because of better competition; they failed because they were terrible f*cking films. Dark of the Moon was like the sweaty fat dude you picked up at last call because you were drunk and horny, and the results were about the same: You fell asleep about halfway through. Look at the tentpole releases over Independence Day during the last 15 years, count the number of them they you really liked? War of the Worlds? Maybe. Men in Black? Sure. Spider-Man 2. Absolutely. Anything else? Now, count the number of Independence Day films that left you with brain damage? You can’t count that high anymore, can you? Stupid brain damage.









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    Comments

    Never has so much money been made by so many movies that no one seems to love.

    I didn't go to the theater this weekend -- heck, I haven't been to a movie for a month or so. I just don't see anything interesting to me.

    Dark of the Moon was like the sweaty fat dude you picked up at last call because you were drunk and horny, and the results were about the same: You fell asleep about halfway through.

    So Dark of the Moon raped you?

    /lobs 2-year old grenade back into room

    Posted by: Fredo at July 5, 2011 10:49 AM

    • Dustin,

    I know it was hard, but not reporting that Green Lantern got his ass handed to him by a Selena Gomez movie isn't going to help you get through this deeply emotional period in which we start digging a hole for RyRy's career.

    You'll always have the memories.

    Love,
    Earth.

    Posted by: D-Day at July 5, 2011 11:15 AM

    I think it was a huge missed opportunity to not release Captain America over Independence day weekend.

    Posted by: cockroach at July 5, 2011 11:17 AM

    Gotta agree with the "there was nothing out there" theory. Hell I watched "Bad Teacher" because my other choice WAS Transformers.

    What I think Rowles overlooks is that Transformers fits the holiday family movie niche very well. Lots of action, but no real gore, sex appeal but no real sex. In short it's safe fare for the whole family.

    Posted by: logan at July 5, 2011 11:36 AM

    Is Bridesmaids really a romantic comedy, with the main focus being that Kristen Wiig can't get John Hamm to commit to her? Or is it like The Hangover, a comedy in which one of the ensemble cast has a romance, but it's not really central to the story?

    Posted by: Three-nineteen at July 5, 2011 11:39 AM

    I dreaded having to see DOTM, at my lady's dad's behest, over the weekend but a tight schedule prevailed. I'm a longtime Transformers fan - nothing would please me more than a TF movie set on Cybertron, featuring properly characterized Transformers - but cannot bear the full hour of fugly supermodel ass & Shia LaBwehhf's employment struggles that precedes that glorious hour of native-3D robot bedlam. I'll wait for DVD, when I can skip through the 60 minutes of Ken Jeong Rape Jokes and McDreamy & get straight to the robot fights.

    Posted by: the new transported man at July 5, 2011 11:49 AM

    I'm strangely overjoyed for Kristen Wiig because a. I think she is very funny and b. I think it is really about time that one of the women from SNL got the breakthrough that for some reason ::cough sexism cough:: people like Molly Shannon, Cheri Oteri, etcetera, etcetera never got despite being so very funny.

    Posted by: Mrs. Julien at July 5, 2011 12:01 PM

    cockroach: I thought the same damned thing. He has AMERICA in his name. It would have made all kinds of sense! And it would've crushed Michael Bay and his tiny penis in a glorious manner!

    What a missed opportunity.

    Posted by: Figgy at July 5, 2011 12:35 PM

    Perhaps not surprisingly, thought of attending a movie over the Glorious Fourth never occurred to me. I had a great deal of fun presiding over the immolation of five years' worth of financial records, though.

    Posted by: The Wanderer at July 5, 2011 12:41 PM

    I'm all alone for the next week. I was all alone for the July 4th weekend. I thought about going to see a movie, but I just can't pull the trigger on a Transformers movie I know is going to just be eh. I'd rather watch a Top Gear marathon, where the cars may not transform and rarely blow up , but there's intelligence, humor, and holy God an Aston Martin I would sell my children for.

    Posted by: Mrcreosote at July 5, 2011 1:33 PM

    I second Figgy (or third cockroach). Would have been totally appropriate and the holiday marketing is already built-in!

    Posted by: Trey Shacksit at July 5, 2011 1:38 PM

    The boyfriend went by his damned self to see Transformers after begging me to go for the 21st time. No. NO. The first 30 minutes of the 1st one bored me to tears, there was NO WAY. I stayed home and drank beer while finishing up Breaking Bad season three (HOLY BALLS). I do not regret this.

    Posted by: Julie at July 5, 2011 2:14 PM

    To Three-nineteen: There is a really sweet love story with Kristen Wigg and Chris O'Dowd (of The I.T. Crowd) but, I would just call it a comedy over a romantic one as their relationship is not the central plotline. Hope that helped.

    Posted by: elleinad at July 5, 2011 3:16 PM

    Having sat through and waited 3 hours of my life on Transformers 2, I vowed never to watch anymore of that franchise. The choice between Larry Crowne and Cars 2 was easy...neither.

    Luckily Midnight in Paris was out. Didn't know much about Woody Allen flicks, but the movie was beautiful and the people more so. Fan girl swooning on Michael Sheen and Tom Hiddleston.

    And if that doesn't convince Pajabians, Marion Cotillard was gorgeous as usual. Add Carla Bruni and the eye candy was overwhelming.

    Posted by: Dizzle at July 5, 2011 3:38 PM

    Figgy, cockroach, and Trey: It seems like such a no brainer marketing-wise. Let's just blame it on Michael Bay, he secured that date years in advance. On the bright side, yay Captain America! I cannot wait!

    Posted by: Melody Be at July 5, 2011 3:56 PM

    I know it was hard, but not reporting that Green Lantern got his ass handed to him by a Selena Gomez movie isn't going to help you get through this deeply emotional period in which we start digging a hole for RyRy's career.

    You stay classy, Planet Earth...

    Posted by: Green Lantern at July 5, 2011 7:49 PM

    Yay! Master Michael is so pleased, he's promised to get me enhanced. Watch out, ladies of Hollywood, the Baynis will rise (higher) again. In a manner of speaking.

    Posted by: Michael Bay's penis at July 5, 2011 9:29 PM

    I actually walked into my mega-plex, looked at the choices, saw that X-Men First Class wasn't playing for another 3 hours and then turned around and walked out because the rest of the movies were CRAP. No one made a dime on me this weekend!

    Posted by: TrickyHD at July 5, 2011 10:10 PM

    Transformers 3 is a fantastic video. In case people haven't seen it at this point, I recommend it.

    Posted by: Emma at July 6, 2011 2:38 PM