TRANSFORMERS TRANSCENDS FORECASTS

Never underestimate a Transformer. That was the lesson box office forecasters learned over the weekend as Paramount’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon amassed an estimated $47 million in ticket sales — well above the $40 million or so that most analysts had predicted. In fact, in its second week, Transformers took in only slightly less than the first week of Warner Bros.’ Horrible Bosses and Sony’s Zookeeper did together. Nevertheless, those two films undeniably had solid openings, too — particularly Horrible Bosses, which opened with $28.1 million, well above forecasts. Zookeeper, with $21 million, opened at the high end of expectations. Unfortunately, the overall box office once again slipped below last year’s for the comparable weekend, when the animated Despicable Me opened with $56.4 million. That puts summer revenue for 2011 slightly below summer revenue for 2010. More worrisome is the fact that since ticket prices are now higher than last year and 3D surcharges are commonplace, attendance has fallen precipitously — significantly below even last year, one of the worst in memory. In an interview with the Associated Press, veteran box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian observed woefully, “This is when we’re supposed to be pulling well ahead of one of the lowest-attended summers of the last 10 years, which was last summer, and we’re not doing that.” All of that could change next weekend, however. That’s when the final Harry Potter movie arrives.

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo: 1. Transformers: Dark of the Moon, $47 million; 2. Horrible Bosses, $28.1 million; 3. Zookeeper, $21 million; 4. Cars 2, $15.2 million; 5. Bad Teacher, $9 million; 6. Larry Crowne, $6.3 million; 7. Super 8, $4.8 million; 8. Monte Carlo, $3.8 million; 9. Green Lantern, $3.1 million; 10. Mr. Popper’s Penguins, $2.9 million.,

UPDATE
Final Figures for the Top Five Films

1. Transformers: Dark of the Moon, $47,103,276
2. Horrible Bosses, $28,302,165
3. Zookeeper, $20,065,617
4. Cars 2, $15,212,015
5. Bad Teacher, $8,914,412