May 26, 2012

Transformers: Dark of the Moon is a Megahit

by Rebecca Pahle | Published July 11, 2011

Transformers: Dark of the Moon grabbed the top spot at the box office for the second week in a row, with its weekend gross of $47 million bringing its total so far to $261 million. New releases Horrible Bosses ($28.1 million) and Zookeeper ($21 million) came in second and third, respectively. Fourth place went to Cars 2 (weekend gross $15.2 million, total gross $148.8 million), which doesn’t have as many explosions as Michael Bay’s take on the talking car theme, though Transformers certainly suffers from the lack of Michael Caine as a British super-spy. Bad Teacher (weekend gross $9 million, total gross $78.7 million) rounded out the top five.

A slew of limited releases hit theaters last weekend, including the documentary Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest, which earned $120,016 in only four theaters. Other new limited releases were Project Nim ($25,200), Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness ($18,405), The Ward ($7,760), Rapt ($5,900), The Ledge ($4,400) and Fading of the Cries ($2,300).

Michael Bay needs to start saying his goodbyes to the number one spot now (at least until Transformers 4 comes out), because next weekend is the Potterpocalypse. Potterites the world over are already stockpiling Kleenex to prepare for Friday’s release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, a.k.a. The Last Harry Potter Movie Ever. People who don’t like their kids’ movies quite so full of death and destruction can head to the other new wide release, Winnie the Pooh, which doesn’t have any noseless dark wizards, though there might be some bees. Next weekend’s limited releases include Buzzkill, Girlfriend, Salvation Boulevard, Lucky, Snowflower and the Secret Fan, Tabloid, The Undefeated, The Tree and Life, Above All.