It took three movies but the toys turned animated series turned live-action blockbuster finally broke the billion dollar mark worldwide. Transformers: Dark of the Moon (with the help of 3D, obviously) managed what Transformers in 2007 and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen in 2009 could only dream of.

With $1,003,920,148 in just 35 days, Transformers: Dark of the Moon became the 10th movie to reach the billion dollar mark and is now 9th worldwide after just passing The Dark Knight. Thanks to this the worldwide top 10 becomes a billionaire club:

1. Avatar $2.782 billion
2. Titanic $1.843 billion
3. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King $1.119 billion
4. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest $1.066 billion
5. Toy Story 3 $1.063 billion
6. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides $1.033 billion
7. Alice in Wonderland $1.024 billion
8. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 $1,015 billion
9. Transformers: Dark of the Moon $1.003 billion
10. The Dark Knight $1.001 billion

As you can see, there are no less then three movies that opened this year above, all with over a billion, not bad for a year that started so lousy. Oh, and if you were wondering, yes, this is the first time such a thing has happened and yes, I blame it on the increased popularity of 3D around the world.

To conclude, Transformers made $709.7 million worldwide while Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen grossed $836.3 million, with over a billion so far, Transformers: Dark of the Moon is a big leap forward (at least money wise) that should ultimately become the 5th highest grossing movie of all time with about $1.1 billion, if not more (Return of the King ain’t safe).

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I was wrong, yes, I said I will be first to admit and here it is, I was wrong thinking Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 won’t have enough steam to carry itself past The Dark Knight‘s opening weekend record of $158.4 million (made exactly 3 years ago). But it wasn’t just the weekend, Potter destroyed the previous single day record of $72.7 million held by The Twilight Saga: New Moon with an astonishing $91 million (mostly thanks to a fantastic $43.5 million midnight opening, another record set by the boy that lived).

The exact sum generated by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is $169,189,427, almost $11 million more then The Dark Knight. But hold your horses, Potter had 3D and while it only factored 43% of the gross, it still made a big enough difference to boost the flick past Batman.

The previous Harry Potter record was held by Deathly Hallows Part 1 with $125 million last November, so going from that to $169 million is definitely more then just a 3D boost for the series. In the end Potter managed to come full circle after taking the opening weekend record way back in November 2001 with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, now coming back almost 10 years later to take what was rightfully his. Here’s a good question, will Deathly Hallows Part 2 hold this record for more than 6 months? You know, that is exactly how long it took for Spider-Man to break the Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone opening record in May 2002. The answer to that question is a definite yes since this came out in the summer while Philosopher’s Stone was a November release, so there is nothing coming out that could break said record, at least until The Dark Knight Rises rises July 2012.

Pottermania took its toll on Transformers: Dark of the Moon, down 54.7% in 2nd place with $21.3 million for a new total of $302.8 million in 19 days. Right now I’m inclined to think it will stop around $350 million and since Potter has a chance of making more, North America is still up for grabs, the race is far from over. Either way, I’m ready to bet it will be one or the other in first place at the end of 2011 in North America.

In 3rd place Horrible Bosses was not affected by Potter, falling only 37.2% for $17.7 million and $60.1 million in 10 days. Bad Teacher, a comparable movie that opened higher, was at $59.9 million after 10 days so Horrible Bosses is well on its way to $100+ million.

Zookeeper was 4th and surprisingly, only fell 38.5% grossing $12.3 million for just $42.3 million in 10 days. This is after all an $80 million flick that should have grossed a lot more by now. Horrible Bosses made so far $18 million more and cost $45 million less, the math is simple here.

Cars 2 continues to tarnish more then 15 years of Pixar legacy, now in 5th place with $8.4 million and $165.3 million. Don’t know how to put this any better so here we go: at this point there ain’t no way this cars can race to that fabled $200 million finish line, thus Cars 2 becomes the first Pixar movie not to match its budget in North America (cost $200 million to make).

Definitely not a fine year for animated flicks, at least in the US. Hopefully Tintin can change that when it opens in December.

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In November 2001 the boy wizard had his big screen debut with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Sorcerer’s Stone in the US), a smashing box office success that set the highest opening weekend record at the time and went on to gross $974.7 million worldwide, something no other movie in the series has managed.

This July Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, the 8th entry in the long running series, is going for the North American opening weekend record that has been in the hands of The Dark Knight for a good 3 years. Warner is really pushing for this and the magic number to beat is $158.4 million. Is Potter up to the task?

Unfortunately, even with the higher priced 3D tickets, Potter might not be all the way up to the task and Warner will have to settle for a bit less, probably $145 million, just under The Dark Knight ($158.4M) and Spider-Man 3 ($151.1M). You can’t really blame Warner if Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 won’t beat that record since they have been pulling all the stops, 4375 theaters, over 11,000 screens not to mention the biggest 3D release ever in more then 3000 locations. Either way Potter will take the worldwide opening weekend record and won’t have much problem going past Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and the billion mark.

The only other question is how high can it finish in North America at the end of the year, where Transformers: Dark of the Moon is set to go over $360 million when all is said and done, a figure not easily accessible for Mr. Potter. But hey, if Deathly Hallows Part 2 can grab that record and finish the year ahead of Transformers, then I’ll be the first to admit I was wrong (and happy to do so). Reviews are the best we’ve ever seen for the series (97% on Rotten Tomatoes) and it would be a fitting end if Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 would finish first at the end of the year in both North America and the rest of the world.

Speaking of Transformers, Dark of the Moon is set to finish in 2nd place with probably around $24 million for a 19th days grand total of $305 million, not to shabby. At that point the Michael Bay robot spectacle will be close to $800 million worldwide.

Horrible Bosses should be a strong 3rd place with $14 million for over $57 million in 10 days. Winnie the Pooh, the other new release of the weekend, is going one on one with The Zookeeper for 4th place,both aiming for $10-11 million. Winnie the Pooh is opening in 2405 theaters without much in the way of advertising from Disney. What once looked like a return to form for the Bear, has become simple yet effective counterprogramming to the dark Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, a movie definitely not suitable for very young children.

Next week Captain America: The First Avenger is a superhero you might want to keep your eyes on while Friends With Benefits is… another R-rated comedy?

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Transformers: Dark of the Moon was first again both in North America and around the world. With over $679 million in just 2 weeks, this is now the fastest worldwide grosser ever and well on track to finish north of $1 billion. As for the new entries, Horrible Bosses performed above average for an R-rated comedy while Zookeeper was below expectations. More about this and others after the break.

With $47.1 million in North America, Transformers: Dark of the Moon had a series high 2nd weekend, besting both Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ($42.3 million) and Transformers ($37 million). What this means is Dark of the Moon ($273M in 14 days) is slowly gaining ground on Revenge of the Fallen ($305.5M after 14 days) while leaving Transformers ($228.9M after 14 days) further behind. Get this, first one made $4.7 million on a similar 2nd week Tuesday, 4 years ago, Revenge made $5.7 million 2 years ago while Dark of the Moon grossed 6 million on Tuesday, 2 days ago. Based on all of the above Transformers: Dark of the Moon is headed for $360-370 million in North America.

Outside NA the autobots are more popular then ever with numbers that make the first two movies look like under-performers. In just 2 weeks Dark of the Moon made more than what Transformers generated in its entire run ($390.4 million) and almost as much as Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen with $406.2 million versus $434.1 million (again, entire run). With these kind of numbers, nothing short of a miracle (read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 eating away a huge chunk of business this weekend) could clip the wings of this box office behemoth before it can reach 1 billion worldwide.

Back to North America where Horrible Bosses was 2nd with $28.3 million, in line with other similarly successful R-rated comedies (that are not sequels, so no The Hangover Part II) released this summer (Bridesmaids opened with $26.2 million while Bad Teacher made $31.6 million). $100 million is what Horrible Bosses should aim for after this good start. On the other end Zookeeper, a PG family comedy with talking animals, was below previous Kevin James efforts of the past years (Paul Blart: Mall Cop opened with $40.5 million) but above this year’s The Dilemma ($17.8 million). Not to mention this was aiming for Night at the Museum kind of success and is failing horribly at that. About $65-70 million is as high as this could go.

Other notable movies:

• Cars 2 is at $153.2 million in North America and $274.8 million worldwide, still on track to finish with $650-700 million worldwide;
• Bad Teacher made $81.2 million in NA and $127 million worldwide;
• Super 8 $119.2M ($170.3M);
• Green Lantern $110.6M ($143.9M);
• Bridesmaids $158.9M ($207.7M);
• X-Men: First Class $142.5M ($343.4M);
• Kung Fu Panda 2 $159.3M ($568.2M);
• Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides $236.5M ($1,021.9M), will pass Alice in Wonderland ($1,024.3M) this week to become the 6th highest grossing movie ever worldwide, unadjusted for inflation;
• The Hangover Part II $251.1M ($310.4M).

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Michael Bay has already said Transformers: Dark of the Moon will be his last Transformers movie and Shia LaBeouf doesn’t think he has “anything more to contribute”, but people don’t see the films because of them, they go for the robots, and luckily for Paramount modern technology can keep them around for a long time.

Transformers producer Don Murphy recently posted a message on his personal message board regarding the future of the franchise. He says there will not be a reboot, but we can expect more movies in the upcoming years.

Via TFW2005:

“What happens next? Certainly not a reboot. We haven’t lost the Transformers. They didn’t grow up or become expensive like Toby Maguire. I don’t know what happens next. I’m pretty sure there will be a second trilogy. I am pretty sure it will kick ass. And I am pretty sure some of you will hate it because it wasn’t all bots.”

In just over a week of release Transformers: Dark of the Moon is on the verge of making $500 million worldwide. The franchise is by no means over, and I can see Paramount hunting for a new director to fill Bay’s shoes in the near future.

Where should the franchise go from here? A prequel trilogy? Or a continuation from where we left off, minus Sam Witwicky and his supermodel girlfriends?

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It took three movies for Transformers to finally reach the international box office it was always destined to have. Transformers: Dark of the Moon opened to a whopping $219 million, second highest of the year (Pirates 4 scored $260 million) and if we go by worldwide numbers then Optimus Prime and his gang hauled an even more impressive $382.4 million, second only to Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince with $394 million.

With such fantastic numbers, Transformers: Dark of the Moon has a good chance at becoming the 2nd movie to reach $1 billion after Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides got there on Saturday. Back in 2007 Transformers grossed 390.4 million internationally and $709.7 million worldwide while in 2009 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen made $434.1 million internationally and $836.2 million worldwide. As you can clearly see, there wasn’t much in the way of international growth for the series between part 1 and 2 but for part 3 things are looking radically different. With Japan and China still to come later this month, Transformers: Dark of the Moon is on track for over $600 million internationally, even with higher 3D tickets, a 50% growth in just 2 years is damn impressive. So far the autobots have grossed $454 million worldwide in just a week.

A very distant 2nd place was Cars 2 with $22.1 million (1st place had $219 million) and so far this made $82.2 million. With a lot more markets set to open the flick in the coming months, Cars 2 is performing internationally a lot better then it is in North America.

Another big hit around the world, Kung Fu Panda 2, added $20 million for a new international total of $377.6 million and $536.8 million worldwide. It now seems like this will stop just shy of $600 million, so not that far from the final gross of Kung Fu Panda, $631.7 million.

4th place belongs to The Hangover Part II with $9.6 million for over $300 million around the world and $548.9 million if we include North America.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides was 5th and thanks to $7.7 million over the weekend, it is now at $774.7 million internationally and $1,009.2 million worldwide, as in over 1 billion. This is now the 3rd Johnny Depp movie to reach that milestone and his 4th one in the worldwide top 10, something very few actors managed to ever achieve (Orlando Bloom with two Pirates and two Lord of the Rings flicks in 2007 and Harrison Ford way back in the 80′s with three Star Wars and at least two Indian Jones come to mind).

Bridesmaids and Bad Teacher were 6th and 7th with $7.2 million each while an Delhi Belly, a Bollywood flick, was 8th with an impressive $7.1 million.

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As expected Transformers: Dark of the Moon had no problem dominating the box office over the long Independence Day weekend setting a new record for the time slot (Spider-Man 2 with $88.2 million was the previous holder). Cars 2 had the biggest 2nd weekend drop ever for a Pixar flick while newcomer Larry Crowne disappoints, more after the break.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon grossed 97.8 million over the 3-day weekend or $115.8 million if we count the 4th of July that fell on a Monday. In total the 3rd robot extravaganza made $180.6 million in 6 days, more then the $155.4 million made by Transformers in 2007 but less then Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen with $214.9 million in 2009. This week is going to be crucial for the final tally of Transformers: Dark of the Moon, depending on weekdays and the coming weekend, we will know with a certain degree of accuracy how much it will gross when all is said and done in North America. At the moment I’m going to say it should finish somewhere between Transformers ($319.2 million) and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ($402.1 million).

Cars 2 is another big hit that (as the title suggests) features, well, cars. With $26.2 million over the 3-day weekend this had by far the biggest 2nd weekend drop for a Pixar movie. After 11 days Cars 2 has grossed $122.5 million, neck a neck with the original Cars that had $121.5 million at the same point. A week ago it had $6 million over Cars, now it is down to $1 million and when all will be said and done, it might not even make it to $200 million, a far cry from the $244 million of the original.

Bad Teacher was another movie that took a bigger dive then expected, down 54.1% for $14.5 million and 3rd place. With $62.7 million after 11 days, I’m starting to have doubts regarding the possibility of this finishing above $100 million in North America.

Larry Crowne, the Tom Hanks directed, written and starred romantic comedy, also featuring Julia Roberts, made only $13 million over the 3-day weekend and another $3 million on Monday. Definitely a lot less then the 20+ expected from the two once huge stars.

Super 8 rounded out the top 5 with $7.9 million for a total of $110 million after 25 days. If it keeps going at this rate, this should finish with over $130 million in North America, more then enough considering the $50 million budget.

The last opener of the weekend was Monte Carlo and that made $7.4 million for 6th while Green Lantern kept plummeting, down 63.6% for $6.5 million and $103.6 million in 18 days. This will stop around $115 million and I can’t really imagine how Warner must feel right now after spending $200 million on it.

Other noteworthy movies:

• Bridesmaids finally became the highest grossing Judd Apatow movie ever with $153.7 million in 53 days;
• X-Men: First Class will reach $140 million sometime today or early tomorrow;
• The Hangover Part II is now at $248.6 million while Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is at $234.1 million, both should be passed by Transformers: Dark of the Moon before the end of the week;

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Transformers is back in theaters in full swing for yet another bombastic 4th of July. Despite the release of two other movies this weekend, Larry Crowne and Monte Carlo, Transformers: Dark of the Moon has the field all to itself. It’s only competition comes from the numbers made by the previous entries.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon is the 9th movie of famous director explosionaire Michael Bay and has already started blowing up 4013 theaters across North America. So what explosive new features will this 3rd (and last, at least for Bay) autobots adventure bring to the table? Well, 3D would be the biggest thing here then there’s the running time, 10 minutes longer then Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen while at the same time coming up $5 million cheaper ($195 compared to $200 million).

No matter what critics say (36% on Rotten Tomatoes) I have to give credit to Michael Bay, he made a bigger, louder and longer sequel, not to mention he shot it in 3D, all without going over budget but actually under budget. Probably the best financial decision was giving Megan Fox the old “you’re fired”, that must have easily saved them a fortune in tanning lotions. But this is all besides the point, box office is the key word here and Transformers movies have done exceedingly well on that front for the past 4 years with the first one packing $319.2 million while the much less lauded second one making $402.1 million. So with such a strong legacy, Transformers: Dark of the Moon is a shoe-in for lots and lots of green.

Anyway, the movie opened on Tuesday and has made (if we go by Deadline’s estimates) over $63 million in 3 days. Over the weekend I’m expecting around $90-95 million for what should look like over 155 million over the first 6 days. 4th of July will probably come in with another strong $30+ million for $185-190 million in 7 days. That is more then the $150 million Paramount were expecting but significantly less then what Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen made back in 2009.

Cars 2 is looking at a good hold, $38 million for a solid 2nd place while newcomer Larry Crowne, starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, has a shot at more then $20 million over the weekend. Last time these two met was for Charlie Wilson’s War, a very different movie that made $66.6 million after opening with $9 million during 2007′s Christmas. That was an R-rated war drama while this is a PG-13 romantic comedy so it is safe to assume it should do better business, at least opening weekend.

Bad Teacher is still looking hot with $19 million for 4th place while Super 8 will battle Green Lantern for 5th place, each with $8 million or so.

The last new wide release of the week is Monte Carlo, a PG-13 romantic comedy starring Selena Gomez that is probably going to gross $6-7 million for 7th place.

Next week Kevin James is the Zookeeper while Jason Bateman and Jason Sudeikis try to murder their Horrible Bosses.

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Dark of the Moon is not only the best entry in Michael Bay’s Transformers saga, it’s also one of the best action movies of the year. Bay does what he does best – make stuff look awesome – but more importantly, the story and characters actually feel important to the film instead of ancillary functions of a purely CGI-driven creation. Ehren Kruger’s script is a perfect match for Bay’s directing style, balancing just the right amount of story with terrific action beats. Though it clocks in around two hours and forty minutes, the last hour is one of the most action packed segments in recent film history.

Let the record show that I believe Michael Bay is a brilliant filmmaker. Allow me to be clear: the man doesn’t necessarily make brilliant films (OK, never), but he’s a craftsman of the highest order who is able to accomplish things that no other director in Hollywood can. He has made an art of shooting helicopters, explosions, chase scenes, and destruction. He uses his actors as chess pieces in a larger game, and if you’re willing to play that game along with him, you’re going to have a hell of a good time.

One of the many reasons the second film, Revenge of the Fallen, didn’t work that well for me was because (and I realize this may sound crazy) there was an overabundance of robots. It was nothing but gnashing metal and mechanisms, a soulless piece of work that reeked of problems due to the then-in-full-swing Writers Guild of America strike. Dark of the Moon corrects all of these issues, boiling down the number of Transformers to the essential players and avoiding unnecessarily complicated mythologies.

The action in this film is jaw-droppingly impressive. The opening scene, an epic (and I don’t use that word lightly here) battle between the Autobots and Decepticons on their home world, rivals any space battle from any of the Star Wars films in the realm of size and scope. Much of this credit should be given to ILM for creating the visual effects, which, aside from being gorgeous, are easy to comprehend and immensely complicated. I normally don’t put much stock in the Oscars, but if the Academy fails to acknowledge the incredible effects work done in this movie, they truly are an irrelevant organization.

The reason I believe the action works so well in Dark of the Moon is because Bay essentially took scenes from the original Transformers and improved upon them. There is a fantastic highway car chase sequence (among the director’s best, an accomplishment in itself) that’s basically a more involved version of a similar scene in the first film. Same goes for the final 20 minutes, in which Shia LaBeouf runs through a huge city against all odds toward a piece of alien technology. Though some may find this a bit repetitive, I have absolutely no problem with it: since these scenes are all bigger and more bombastic than the first film (there are District 9-type alien ships floating above Chicago this time, and FAR more destruction and chaos in the streets), the movie doesn’t feel like a poor imitation of something we’ve already seen. Bay’s use of live action 3D here is phenomenal, and best used in a base-jumping sequence that was shot practically with the same technology that James Cameron invented for Avatar.

Rosie Huntington-Whitely is a step up from Megan Fox, and even though Rosie’s character isn’t quite as involved as I would have liked, she’s still a tenfold improvement from Fox’s Mikaela Banes. Rosie is definitely a “Michael Bay girl” (women in his movies should have their own classification, like Bond girls) and therefore isn’t relied on as much as the male protagonists, but for what it’s worth, I liked her a lot. She gives Sam Witwicky added motivation for self-improvement, and her presence seemed to insert a jolt of energy into what could have been a tired performance from Shia (who I’d imagine is getting sick of this character by now). And as a longtime LaBeouf fanboy, it should come as no surprise to that I was a big fan of his schtick here. He’s a true movie star in my mind – tremendously watchable and easily foreseeable as the next big A-list powerhouse in line with DiCaprio.

Dark of the Moon also succeeds in pulling together a strange collection of character actors to fill in the human roles in the movie, including John Turturro, Frances McDormand, Ken Jeong, Patrick Dempsey, Alan Tudyk, and the always-entertaining John Malkovich. I’ve heard complaints that the comedy didn’t work for many people, but I laughed a lot and found almost everyone enjoyable to watch. The exception, surprisingly, was McDormand, an actress I normally like, but found severely annoying after her first five minutes on screen. Even Ken Jeong was fun to watch, though he was acting as an amalgamation of every character he’s ever played.

In my review of the original Transformers, I wrote that I had “never seen so much debris in my life,” and now it falls on me to update that statement: Dark of the Moon now holds the record for the most debris of any film I’ve ever seen. Even if you’re not in it for the whole thing, the last forty-five minutes stands as one of the most impressive visual spectacles to hit theaters in a long time. Every other summer action film – Thor, Green Lantern, X-Men: First Class, Super 8, even Fast Five – must bow down to Michael Bay as the king of the summer blockbuster. When Bay is at his peak, nobody does it better. Until next time…

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The Transformers movies have provided a lot of laughter, whether it was the comic relief from the parents, the poor storyline, or the robot testicles. However, where as most people just shrug it off as a fun popcorn flick, others go a step further and decided to make their own movie involving kung-fu robots.

From The Guardian:

Anything Michael Bay can do, Hong Kong film-maker Jeffrey Lau can do better. At least, that’s the theory behind Kung Fu Cyborg, China’s answer to the Transformers phenomenon.

Lau, one of the producers on Stephen Chow’s Kung Fu Hustle, came up with the idea after watching Bay’s films and noticing that the various Autobots and Decepticons lacked martial arts skills. “I burst out laughing when watching Transformers,” he says. “The effects were amazing but the robots didn’t know how to fight. So I decided our Chinese superheroes should be kung-fu experts.”

Kung Fu Cyborg was reportedly made on a budget of $14m (£8.5m), a third of which went on motion-capture and CGI technology to produce the robot action. That’s an awful lot less than the most recent Transformers movie, Revenge of the Fallen, which cost an estimated $200m.

So what does a $14 million kung-fu Transformer knock-off look like? This:

Which would you rather see? The Transformers we have now, for Kung Fu Cyborg‘s?

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