Records, records everywhere. “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” collected $97.4 million this weekend (from Friday to Sunday), according to studio estimates. That’s a significant result in three ways:
1. It’s the largest opening weekend of the year, passing the $90.2 million debut of “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.”
2. It’s the biggest Independence Day weekend, opening beating $88.2 million from “Spider-Man 2.”
3. It’s the third-best July opening weekend, behind “The Dark Knight” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.”
Michael Bay’s $195 million alien-robot threequel is projected to finish the four-day holiday weekend with $116 million, bringing its six-day cumulative total to $181 million.
But despite those enormous numbers, “Dark of the Moon” will likely never catch its predecessor “Revenge of the Fallen,” at least domestically. By comparison, that 2009 sequel had earned a massive $214.9 million after six days. According to Paramount, 62% of “Moon’s” audience was male and 55% younger than 25. Showings in 3-D continued to account for 60% of its gross, and IMAX screens single-handedly brought in an estimated $13.8 million over the four-day weekend.
