‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’ holds off ‘Spider-Verse’
The newest ‘Transformers’ movie doesn’t fully recapture the franchise’s box office magic while ‘Across the Spider-Verse’ quickly tops its predecessor’s haul.
Hello! Welcome to The Box Office Report for the weekend of June 9-11, 2023.
1. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
Weekend gross: $60.5M
Total domestic gross: $60.5M
Last weekend: New release
Percent drop: NA
In a close weekend, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts held off Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse to win the weekend. It helped that the latest Transformers movie had not only Thursday previews but also a Wednesday fan event to pad out its box office haul. (It’s kind of funny that as we transitioned from midnight screenings to Thursday and even Wednesday screenings, the industry just silently agreed to keep pretending those box office numbers were part of the Friday totals.)
Anyways, Rise of the Beasts wasn’t a massive box office hit like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen ($109 million opening weekend), Transformers: Age of Extinction ($100 million opening weekend) or Transformers: Dark of the Moon ($97.9 million opening weekend), but it did represent a decent bump from Bumblebee ($21.6 million opening weekend) and Transformers: The Last Knight ($44.7 million opening weekend).
I’m not about to declare the Transformers franchise back in action, but this is a positive opening weekend for the series — especially if you take into account the cameo at the end of Rise of the Beasts and what it could mean for future installments …
2. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Weekend gross: $55.4M
Total domestic gross: $225.4M
Last weekend: 1st
Percent drop: 54
Across the Spider-Verse was just a few million away from holding onto the No. 1 spot at the box office. I can’t imagine Sony is disappointed in how the film has performed, though. In addition to being a critical and a fan hit, Across the Spider-Verse has already topped Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’s domestic ($225.4 million vs. $190.2 million) and worldwide ($390 million vs. $375.5 million) hauls.
3. The Little Mermaid
Weekend gross: $22.8M
Total domestic gross: $228.8M
Last weekend: 2nd
Percent drop: 45
It’s kind of wild how closely this version of the Little Mermaid is tracking with the live-action Aladdin. The Little Mermaid grossed $22.8 million for a $228.8 million domestic total through three weekends. Aladdin grossed $24.7 million for a $232.6 million domestic total through three weekends.
4. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Weekend gross: $7M
Total domestic gross: $335.4M
Last weekend: 4th
Percent drop: 34
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has remarkable staying power. Through six weekends, the film is still in the top five. The third Guardians movie now ranks at No. 15 on the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s domestic box office chart. It should pass Thor: Love and Thunder ($343.3 million), but Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ($389.8 million) is probably out of reach.
5. The Boogeyman
Weekend gross: $6.9M
Total domestic gross: $24.7M
Last weekend: 3rd
Percent drop: 44
Gonna skip over The Boogeyman so we can talk about the movie that finished behind it …
6. Fast X
Weekend gross: $5.2M
Total domestic gross: $138.1M
Last weekend: 5th
Percent drop: 46
What happened to Fast X? I usually don’t go beyond the top five films for The Box Office Report, but I needed to address the last Fast & Furious movie falling out of that group by its fourth weekend in theaters. Fast X is the third lowest grossing Fast & Furious film when it comes to the domestic numbers, topping only 2 Fast 2 Furious and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. (Its worldwide numbers are stronger, sitting exactly in the middle of the chart, if you include Hobbs & Shaw.
Are people tired of this franchise? Is there the financial incentive to make not only another film but also give Dwayne Johnson a spinoff before that one?
Box office numbers via The Numbers based on Sunday estimates.
Next weekend
Two big new releases next weekend: The Flash and Elemental. The Flash will obviously win the weekend, but I’m more curious to see how Elemental performs.
Pixar’s streak at the box office hasn’t been great since Incredibles 2 opened with $182.7 million in 2018 and Toy Story 4 opened with $120.9 million in 2019. The following year saw Onward’s potential dashed as the pandemic began (it managed only a $39.1 million opening weekend less than a week before the world shut down), and Disney then sent Pixar’s next two offerings, Luca and Seeing Red directly to Disney+. When Pixar resumed its status as a theatrical offering last summer, Lightyear debuted with $50.6 million.
