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).
