But movies like Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen are widely considered to be immune from negative criticism in their first weekend at box-offices because, generally speaking, their core audience of mostly young men rarely read reviews.
In fact on Monday, movie ticket site Fandango.com reported that hundreds of midnight showings ahead of Wednesday’s debut already are sold out and advance sales on Fandango are double what they were at this same time ahead of Transformers.
That is good news for Hollywood and for DreamWorks and Paramount. The movie cost $195 mn to make, Bay told reporters at a news conference last week.
“Year-to-date box-office is great, but summer-to-date we’re actually down in attendance ... I don’t think there is anything wrong with movies, it’s a typical summer season, but the first quarter was so strong,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Hollywood.com box-office.
SUMMER HEAT?
Hollywood’s summer films, which can make up as much as 40 per cent of overall annual box-office tallies in the United States and Canada, started the first weekend of May with the launch of X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
Since then, about $1.68 billion worth of tickets have been sold, which is roughly equal to the same point one year ago. Attendance, however, is off 2.1 per cent and the average ticket price is up to $7.35 compared to $7.18 last year.
Year-to-date, U.S. and Canadian ticket sales remain up a strong 10 per cent at $4.8 billion compared to $4.3 billion at the same point last year and attendance is up about 8 per cent.
The difference, box-office watchers said, was 2009’s first quarter, which was exceptionally strong with surprise hits such as Paul Blart: Mall Cop. May and June saw a few key films like Angels & Demons fail to make a big mark with fans.
Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen features toy cars that transform into robots and battle aliens who are looking to control Earth. Shia LaBeouf returns to his starring role as Sam Witwicky, a geeky boy with a sexy girlfriend (Megan Fox) and an otherworldly Camaro that shifts into an alien-fighting robot.
Critics say LaBeouf does an able job, but with a dizzying array of alien robots loudly morphing into military hardware and blasting away at enemies, he’s given too little to do.
Variety called the movie “longer, louder and perhaps ‘more than your eye can meet,’” compared to its 2007 predecessor.
Others blasted the story. “Characters and comedy are in short supply in a plot that’s basically an Indiana Jones-style search for a buried treasure,” the Hollywood Reporter said.
A few reviewers noted that movies like Transformers were made to emphasise action more than acting.
“It’s a thrill ride, plain and simple. And it delivers,”
TotalFilm.com’s Mark Samuels said.
Transformers... midnight shows rake in $16 mn
Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen stormed into about 3,000 U.S. theaters late Tuesday night, capturing a mighty $16 mn from the first midnight screenings of the action sequel that is expected to be a major blockbuster.
The opening night figure puts the Paramount Pictures release, directed by Michael Bay, in impressive company.
The Imax haul amounted to just over $1 mn, surpassing Imax midnight record setter The Dark Knight, which took in $675,000 on Imax screens last summer.
The debut of Revenge Of The Fallen also overshadowed May’s bow of Paramount’s own Star Trek,a Friday opener that collected $4 mn at Thursday evening screenings and then took in another $3 mn at midnight screenings.
