By Ryan Parsons | Image property of Paramount, Variety
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
After opening huge on Wednesday, Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen rode that box office momentum through the weekend. Easily destroying Spider-Man 2's five-day opening of $152.4 million, the sequel raked in $201.2 million domestically.
Five-Day Box Office: Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen
The opening for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was so strong that the sequel almost took down the all-time best five-day record (for a Wednesday launch), that still stands at $203.8 million. Close! Who holds that record? If you guessed Warner Bros' The Dark Knight, then you'd be right.
Things weren't much different overseas. Revenge opened to an estimated $162 million, the fourth best international opening of all time, after Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End ($216.3 million), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ($193 million) and Spider-Man 3 ($164.9 million).
While one would think that there must have been few moviegoers left for other movies, that wasn't the case. Pixar's Up hit the $250 million mark this Sunday, making it the current record holder for best domestic box office take of 2009. The Hangover also continues to do well. Besides making for great jokes while in Vegas -- I was there this weekend, lots of Hangover talk -- the R-rated comedy saw $17.2 million domestically, which helped push the film clean past $200 million (worldwide) to $229.2 million.
A job well done, though all of these films have to acknowledge the warpath laid down by Transformers 2. Though the critics mostly disliked the sequel, 90% of those polled leaving the theaters confirmed that they thought the sequel as good as or better than the first.
Since the film is aimed at the summer moviegoers and not the critics, Paramount is undeterred.
"To us, that's the most compelling data point," Paramount co-chair Rob Moore said. "The thing that works so much about this franchise is the level of optimism and fun that's inherent in it. It transports you to a world that stretches reality but is a ton of fun."
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