In a surprising upset at the box office, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice held off the newcomer, Transformers One.

Transformers One Underwhelms At The Box Office

Transformers One

Transformers One was all but poised to take the number one spot at the weekend box office as it was tracking for a $40 million to $50 million opening but as per Box Office Mojo, only made $25 million. This wasn’t enough to dethrone Beetlejuice Beetlejuice which took in $26 million in first.

Paramount and Paramount Animation clearly had a lot of faith in the movie with plenty of early screenings, positive buzz, and marketing. The movie is certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with (at the time of writing this) 88% and an ‘A’ on CinemaScore.

So, What Happened?

A big part of the movie’s lack of performance was in its IMAX/Premium Large Format (PLF) screens. The movie made only $2 million, or 35% of its total box office off the larger format. Compare that to a film like Dune: Part Two which made 48% of its domestic earnings from the format. This isn’t to say it’s the sole reason for the lack of a solid performance at the box office but had the movie performed better at IMAX/PLF it likely would’ve earned an additional $10 million to $15 million depending on those numbers. Obviously this veers into speculation but undoubtedly this is a huge area where the film failed to connect.

Transformers One – Do Yourself A Favor And Go See It

There’s also the fact that the movie is a prequel. Movies that are prequels generally tend to not perform as well at the theatres. There are lots of noticeable examples but one only needs to look at the recent failure of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. These tend to be stemming from the perceived notion that the movie has a predetermined ending and lacks any real compelling storylines.

The one lone upside here is that the movie was co-financed by Hasbro, which minimizes Paramount’s losses. So the film could still be profitable for the studio even with its modest returns. Since we don’t know the details of this agreement it’s hard to say for sure, but there’s reason to suspect the bar for it being profitable is lower than others.

The Rest Of The Box Office

Speak No Evil dropped from second to third. Never Let Go debuted under target with $4.5 million in fourth. The film was distributed by Lionsgate. Their movies tend to not perform super highly at the box office. Finally, Deadpool & Wolverine dropped to fifth.

Next Week’s Predictions

Next week sees the release of The Wild Robot and Megalopolis.

The Wild Robot is tracking for a $20 million to $30 million opening. Which could place it in first. Unlike Transformers One it’s not a prequel and is an original story. It however lacks the brand recognition as it’s an original IP. Its placing will depend on how much both Transformers One and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice drop off. If we expect them to drop off 40-50% then there’s a strong chance that The Wild Robot will be in first. It’ll be a close call either way.

Megalopolis is another Lionsgate release and while the film seems to be marketed more than other Lionsgate releases, I still don’t see it making more than $8 million. With Borderlands and The Crow both underperforming it would seem that Megalopolis is bound for the same. Lionsgate however didn’t finance the film, nor pay for its marketing. They simply charged a distribution fee. Perhaps they see the writing on the wall? I see the movie making $5 million and even then, I think it could really struggle to meet even that meager target.

As always, we’ll find out next week!

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