The animated prequel Transformers One is battling for the top spot in its opening weekend. The Transformers One box office debut comes during the third weekend in September, at the same time as two new release horror movies. Those would be Never Let Go, a survival thriller from High Tension and Crawl‘s Alexandre Aja that stars Halle Berry as a mother who is desperate to protect her children from mysterious outside entities, and The Substance, the sophomore feature from Revenge director Coralie Fargeat which stars Demi Moore as an aging fitness icon.
Per Deadline, as of Saturday morning, Transformers One is projected to earn a three-day opening weekend of $26.3 million at the domestic box office. This falls slightly below original projections and leaves it battling for the No. 1 slot with the third weekend of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which is projected to hit $25 million, though the animated movie is ultimately expected to top the chart.
Meanwhile, both horror titles are struggling to make a splash as the Tim Burton legacy sequel continues to choke out the pre-Halloween season marketplace. Never Let Go, which comes with a $20 million price tag, is projected to debut between $3.8 and $4.7 million while The Substance, which is in a similar budget range at $17.5 million, is set for an opening between $2.65 and $3 million.
What This Opening Weekend Means For Transformers One
It Does Not Compare Well With The Rest Of The Transformers Franchise
Ultimately, this opening weekend shows that the movie franchise has not yet pulled out of its box office slump, which began to set in after 2017’s The Last Knight debuted to less than half of what the previous installment made. In fact, it marks the second-lowest debut of the entire franchise after Bumblebee, which opened to $21.6 million in 2018, ultimately resulting in the franchise going dormant for half a decade. Below, see how the new installment compares to the opening weekends and worldwide grosses of all of the modern Transformers movies:
|
Title |
Opening Weekend |
Worldwide Total |
|---|---|---|
|
Transformers (2007) |
$70.5 million |
$709.7 million |
|
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) |
$108.9 million |
$836.3 million |
|
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) |
$97.8 million |
$1.12 billion |
|
Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) |
$100 million |
$1.10 billion |
|
Transformers: The Last Knight (2017) |
$44.7 million |
$605.4 million |
|
Bumblebee (2018) |
$21.6 million |
$467.9 million |
|
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023) |
$61 million |
$438.9 million |
|
Transformers One (2024) |
$26.3 million |
TBD |
It remains to be seen how high the Transformers One release climbs by the end of its run. If it behaves like a modern animated release such as Migration or Elemental, it could become a sleeper hit and climb the charts slowly and steadily by the end of the year. Its estimated budget between $75 and $147 million also makes it the cheapest installment of the franchise other than the $135 million Bumblebee, in many cases by a considerable margin, as several cost $200 million or more. This means that it has a much more open path toward profitability.
Our Take On The Weekend’s Box Office
Original Horror Continues To Take A Hit
It makes sense that Transformers One would be leading the weekend, given its attachment to a major franchise. However, the quiet reception for The Substance and Never Let Go continues a general lukewarm period for 2024 horror movies, compounding with the underwhelming debuts of titles including The Front Room, Afraid, and even Speak No Evil. However, the prospects for the genre may turn around before the end of the year when October properly ramps up with the upcoming franchise releases Terrifier 3 and Smile 2.
Source: Deadline
