June 24, 2009–Paramount’s “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” is expected to break box-office records as it opens day and date around the world, which will make it an instant global blockbuster and guarantee the future of the franchise. The summer’s highest-profile action tentpole, “Transformers 2” begins playing at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. The movie goes out in 4,226 theaters domestically. Of those, 169 are Imax theaters.
“Revenge of the Fallen” is receiving bad reviews, but the tentpole is largely immune to notices. The picture was expected to do north of $10 million in midnight shows alone, with many of those runs selling out.
Michael Bay’s sequel is tracking most strongly among young men, with young females and older males running even with each other. Older females are the weakest demo group.
Online movie ticketing site Fandango said Monday that pre-sales for “Revenge of the Fallen” were the biggest for any movie so far this year. Overseas, the picture will open in every territory save for Italy and India.
The movie got off to an impressive start in the U.K. and Japan last weekend, grossing $19.6 million from 833 runs. Movie took north of $14 million from 517 runs in the U.K., far ahead of the original “Transformers” and coming within 3% of “The Dark Knight’s” opening weekend gross.
In the U.S., observers believe “Revenge of the Fallen” will score the best five-day opening ever for a film debuting on a Wednesday. The current record-holder is Sony’s “Spider-Man 2” at $152.4 million. “Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix” is the record-holder for best opening day for a Wednesday release at $44.2 million.
The first “Transformers” in 2007 opened on a Monday night, grossing $155.4 million through the following Sunday. Picture’s cumulative figure of $319 million domestic and $389 million overseas for a worldwide tally of $708.3 million.
The movie doesn’t have direct competition until Paramount’s “G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra” opens in early August, because other studios with action event pics wanted to steer clear of the “Transformers” sequel.
On July 1, Fox’s animated 3-D toon “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” opens, followed by “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” on July 15.