“Robots in disguise” earn “more than meets the eye”

Published at 12:00 AM on July 9, 2007

By Sean Gandert

Box office figures for the past weekend reveal that Transformers completely dominated its competition. On about 7,600 screens the film made $152.5 million with both the highest Tuesday and Fourth of July grosses ever. Over the weekend it had the second-highest Independence Day opening weekend, all of which is especially impressive considering that it’s not a sequel (though it might be considered part of a franchise). With the next blockbuster not coming out for nearly two weeks, that being Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Transformers will be spending the meantime racking in several more dump trucks full of money. Hasbro can already rejoice at their future lunch box sales.

Ratatouille grossed second highest with about $29 million, which isn't too shabby and brings it above the $100 million mark in total sales. The other film to open nationwide before July 4th was License to Wed, which brought in $17.8 million. Considering the film’s 9% rating on Rotten Tomatoes this is surprisingly good, so expect yet more “wacky” comedies where Robin Williams’ character slowly drives all patrons lacking an AARP membership out of the theater.

Lastly, SiCKO went into 702 theaters over the weekend but ticket sales dropped down to $3.7 million, showing the troubles Paste predicted last week. While this does likely bring it up to being profitable, with total sales of $11.5 million against a $9 million budget, it won’t be breaking any documentary records like some of Moore's past films.

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