Paramount’s “Transformers” franchise may still be a hot ticket overseas, but it seems to have run out of fuel with American audiences. The series’ fifth film, “The Last Knight,” is on pace for a $64.3 million five-day opening after grossing $13.7 million on Friday from 4,069 screens.
That opening hits the $63-70 million window set by independent trackers at the start of the week, and the $40-42 million it is estimated to gross from just weekend sales will be enough to give it the No. 1 spot at the box office.
But even with two extra days, “The Last Knight” will still have the series’ weakest opening, failing to even match the $70 million made in three days by Michael Bay’s first “Transformers” film in 2007. As with the other sequels in the franchise, this film’s critical reception was very poor, with a 16 percent Rotten Tomatoes score. On CinemaScore, audiences gave the film a B+, the same as the franchise’s second installment, “Revenge of the Fallen.” But it has been eight years since that film came out, and it seems that franchise fatigue has finally hit this once critic-proof army of Autobots.
Among holdovers, Warner Bros.’ “Wonder Woman” is continuing its stellar performance in its fourth weekend and may even beat the second-weekend “Cars 3” for the No. 2 spot. It’s neck-and-neck between the two, with “Wonder Woman” estimating a $27 million haul for the weekend, while “Cars 3” is looking at $26 million, a 52 percent drop from its $53.5 million opening. On Friday totals, “Cars 3” beat “WW” by a bumper’s length, outgrossing $7.5 million to $7.35 million.
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But whether it finishes second or third for the weekend, one thing is certain: “Wonder Woman” is a lock to blow by “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” and become the highest-grossing DC Extended Universe film domestically. A $27 million fourth-frame total would be triple that of the $9 million “BvS” posted in April 2016 and put “Wonder Woman” at $320 million, just $10 million away from eclipsing “BvS.”
Rounding out the top five are Entertainment Studios’ “47 Meters Down” and Lionsgate’s “All Eyez on Me.” “47 Meters” only dropped 38 percent from its $11.2 million opening, with a second-frame estimate of $6.9 million. “All Eyez,” on the other hand, took a hard fall from its higher-than-expected $27 million opening, with an estimate this weekend of $5.9 million.