--- description: The robots' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through this Independence Day weekend that the Transformers franchise still had muscle to spare.... title: Box Office: Transformers Shoots Off Worldwide Fireworks image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt770bfe9971d306a3/698a4bae929fad1001bfb670/360_transformers_0704.jpg?branch=production&width=750&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) # Box Office: Transformers Shoots Off Worldwide Fireworks by [Richard Corliss](/author/richard-corliss/) Jul 4, 2011 4:00 AM CUT  Transformers: Dark of the Moon Transformers: Dark of the MoonEverett by [Richard Corliss](/author/richard-corliss/) Jul 4, 2011 4:00 AM CUT The robots’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through this Independence Day weekend that the _Transformers_ franchise still had muscle to spare. _Transformers: Dark of the Moon_, third in Michael Bay’s HASBRO-Spielberg series of epic-length, fortissimo toy commercials, earned $97.4 million during the standard three-day weekend, and $116.4 million for the four-day holiday frame, according to early studio estimates. In its first six-and-a-half days, from Tuesday-night screenings through July 4th, the 3-Destructo-fest will have earned about $181 million in North America. Those mighty numbers left all competitors in the rubble, including Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, whose recession-era romantic comedy _Larry Crowne_ took in just $15.7 million from Friday to Monday, or about a seventh of the _Transformers_ haul. Optimus Prime and his bot pals hit a goal that most blockbusters aim for: attracting customers who are young (55% of the audience was under 25) and male (62%) and willing to pay extra for the bells, whistles and tinted glasses. Three-fifths of the film’s gross came from 3-D showings, and $13.8 million from IMAX screens. A solid “A” CinemaScore rating from early moviegoers indicates that _Dark of the Moon_ isn’t going away any time soon. And as hot as _T3_ was in North America, it was scalding abroad. The movie equivalent of an all-star tractor pull earned $217 million in 58 territories, which was more than 50% ahead of the overseas take for the series’ 2009 predecessor, _Revenge of the Fallen_. Nearly $400 million in a week: all in all, well played, sirs. [(See Richard Corliss’s review of the new _Transformers_ movie.)](https://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,2080587,00.html "undefined") Except. The $97.4 Fri.-Sun. domestic figure was well below the $109 million three-day weekend take of _Revenge of the Fallen_, which didn’t benefit from the 3-D surcharge. And it meant that, for the first time in a decade, no Hollywood film released in the first half of the year grossed as much as $100 million on its opening weekend. Consider that, by this time last year, three movies — _Alice in Wonderland, Iron Man 2_ and _Toy Story 3_ — had enjoyed weekends in excess of $110 million. _Transformers 2_ crossed the nine-figure mark in June 2009, as did the fourth _Indiana Jones_ caper in May 2008\. May 2007 saw three smash hits: _Spider-Man 3_ at $151.4 million, _Shrek the Third_ at $121.6 million and the third _Pirates of the Caribbean_ at $114.7 million. _X-Men: The Last Stand_ had a three-day gross of $102.75 million in May 2006, and the May before that _Star Wars: Episode Three — Revenge of the Sith_ earned $108.5 million. In June 2004, _Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban_ opened to $93.7 million, or about $123 million at today’s ticket prices; and the $91.8 million that _The Matrix Reloaded_ earned in its first three days in May 2003 would tabulate to about $125 million today. Add the $114.8 million opening of the original _Spider-Man_ in May 2002, and you have a nine-year string of one or more $100-million movies released before July 4th. A string that snapped this week. We grant that, for a blockbuster opening on a Tuesday night, moviegoers who don’t catch it until Friday are considered stragglers. _T3_‘s most ardent fans had pumped $64.7 million into the coffers by the close of business Thursday. And nobody who has profit participation in the movie is going to go broke. But it now looks as though the first 2011 movie to break $100 million in its opening weekend will be — had better be — the final _Harry Potter_ film, hitting the screens July 13\. [(See the 25 All-TIME Best Animated Features.)](https://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,2079149,00.html "undefined") _Cars 2_, Pixar’s G-rated answer to the _Transformers_ demolition derby, finished second with a 60% drop from last weekend’s tally — the biggest second-week fall-off of any Pixar feature. And Cameron Diaz’s _Bad Teacher_ survived a stern C-plus from CinemaScore pollees to take third place over _Larry Crowne_, in which Roberts plays Nice Teacher to Hanks’ unemployed everyman. Four years ago, these golden stars of the ’90s teamed for _Charlie Wilson’s War_ and cruised to a sleepy $66.7 million domestic total. _Larry Crowne_, which Hanks directed and co-wrote as well as starred in, will be lucky to reach even that middling empyrean. Even further behind, but meeting its modest expectations, was _Monte Carlo_, starring ex-Disney teen hottie Selena Gomez. Intended to separate young females from their discretionary spending, it earned $8.75 million — little bucks from little girls. As _T3_ proves, if you want the really big bucks, make movies for the international audience; glamour, action and loud noises are understood in any language. This weekend, the utterly vapid _Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides_ crossed the $1 billion mark in worldwide ticket sales. It is just the eighth movie to reach that mark, and the third to star Johnny Depp (after _Alice_ last year and _Pirates 3_ in 2007). The _Pirates_ and _Transformers_ movies may be warmly recalled only by their accountants, but in the movie business, that calls for a Hollywood holiday. More fireworks, please. [(See the top 10 expendable girlfriends and the men who briefly loved them.)](https://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2080368%5F2080367,00.html "undefined") Here are the three- and four-day estimates of the holiday weekend’s top-grossing pictures in North American theaters, as reported by Box Office Mojo: 1\. _Transformers: Dark of the Moon_, $97.4 million Fri.-Sun., $116.4 million Fri.-Mon.; $181.1 million, first six days 2\. _Cars 2_, $26.5 million, Fri.-Sun., $32.1 million, Fri.-Mon.; $123 million, second week 3\. _Bad Teacher_, $14.5 million Fri.-Sun., $17.6 million Fri.-Mon.; $63 million, second week 4\. _Larry Crowne_, $13 million Fri.-Sun., $15.7 million, Fri.-Mon., first weekend 5\. _Super 8_, $7.8 million Fri.-Sun., $9.5 million Fri.-Mon.; $110.1\. million, fourth week 6\. _Monte Carlo_, $7.5 million Fri.-Sun, $8.75 million Fri.-Mon., first weekend 7\. _Green Lantern_, $6.6 million Fri.-Sun., $8 million Fri.-Mon.; $103.7 million, third week 8\. _Mr. Popper’s Penguins_, $5.4 million Fri.-Sun., $6.85 million Fri.-Mon.; $51.9 million, third week 9\. _Bridesmaids_, $3.8 million Fri.-Sun., $4.4 million Fri.-Mon.; $153.8 million, eighth week 10\. _Midnight in Paris_, $3.7 million Fri.-Sun., $4.3 million Fri.-Mon.; $34.5 million, seventh week [See Mary Pols’ review of _Bad Teacher_.](https://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,2079606,00.html "undefined") [See a review of _Cars 2_.](https://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,2079412,00.html "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6911689/box-office-transformers-shoots-off-worldwide-fireworks/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6911689/box-office-transformers-shoots-off-worldwide-fireworks/"},"headline":"Box Office: Transformers Shoots Off Worldwide Fireworks","datePublished":"2011-07-04T04:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-22T16:31:12.456Z","description":"The robots' red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through this Independence Day weekend that the Transformers franchise still had muscle to spare....","url":"https://time.com/archive/6911689/box-office-transformers-shoots-off-worldwide-fireworks/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt770bfe9971d306a3/698a4bae929fad1001bfb670/360_transformers_0704.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Richard Corliss","url":"https://time.com/author/richard-corliss/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt770bfe9971d306a3/698a4bae929fad1001bfb670/360_transformers_0704.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"360_transformers_0704.jpg","caption":"Transformers: Dark of the Moon","creditText":"Everett","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/6911689/box-office-transformers-shoots-off-worldwide-fireworks/","name":"Box Office: Transformers Shoots Off Worldwide Fireworks"}}]}] ```