It might have opened top of the US box office this weekend (as seems the norm for the robo-franchise), but Transformers: The Last Knight doesn't exactly represent the biggest success for the series built on Bayhem. The new movie made $45.3 million in its opening weekend, according to studio estimates.
Added to its early release totals, that's $69 million in the States, even lower than the original Transformers in 2007 and that didn't have a fragment of the hype or marketing spend of this one. Compared to the $100 million-plus launches of its recent brethren, this is not a good total for a movie costing in excess of $217 million for production alone. Worldwide, the figures were a little healthier, as the movie's global haul was $265.2 million.
Last week's champ, Cars 3, was overtaken and left to finish second, adding $25.1 million. Wonder Woman, now the highest-earning film ever directed by a female director thanks to the work of Patty Jenkins, slipped to third, but made almost exactly the same as the Pixar movie. The superhero pic is now past $318 million in the States and $652.8 million worldwide.
Fourth was shark thriller 47 Meters Down, which actually rose a place on $7.4 million, while rap biopic All Eyez On Me fell to fifth with $5.85 million.
Sixth place was The Mummy, which like The Last Knight, appears to be performing better overseas than at home. It made $5.83 million. In seventh we find Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (Salazar's Revenge here), earning $5.2 million.
Eighth place went to comedy Rough Night, bringing in $4.7 million, while Captain Underpants scored $4.2 million for ninth. And in 10th, preparing (probably) to leave the top 10, Marvel's latest success story, Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 on $3 million.
Outside the top 10 were two much more successful starts in limited release: biographical rom-com The Big Sick took in $435,000 (from just five screens in New York and LA), and Sofia Coppola's The Beguiled, which nabbed $240,545 on four screens.