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Transformers 5 Disappoints With Franchise-Low $69.1 Million US Opening

By Sanjoy Alexander

LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 18: Director Michael Bay attends the global premiere of 'Transformers: The Last Knight' at Cineworld Leicester Square on June 18, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)
LONDON, ENGLAND - JUNE 18: Director Michael Bay attends the global premiere of 'Transformers: The Last Knight' at Cineworld Leicester Square on June 18, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures) /
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The franchise is finally taking the heat as Transformers 5 failed to repeat the massive opening weekend numbers of its predecessors. The Last Knight collected a meagre $69.1 million over the 5-day opening weekend.

Is this end of Paramount’s Transformers franchise? It may be too early to come to that conclusion. But of you go by the opening weekend figures of the latest installment, it’s time to trigger the alarms. Transformers 5 a.k.a Transformers: The Last Knight has opened to a lackluster figure of $69.1 million at the US box office.

Now that could have been waived off, stating a number of reasons like the remarkable command of DCEU’s new champion –Wonder Woman – over the moviegoers. But that’s not the case here. This is clearly one of the viewers and fans saying that they’ve had enough of the same-old-but-not-so-good wine in new bottles. And to top it off, the bottles aren’t that fancy as well.

Michael Bay has been churning out similar movies with shared themes, plot lines, narratives and elements since the second movie in the series. While it was so much fun to watch the first time, when the first Transformers movie released back in 2007, things went south post that flick. It would have been fine if the follow-up movies preserved the good things of the original and weeded out the trash.

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However, Michael Bay’s misguided concept of “Bigger is Better” resulted in heaps of junk like Revenge of the Fallen and Age of Extinction. Each may have their set of merits, like improved and more coherent action sequences, better visual design for the characters and larger global scale of the events depicted. Plus, Michael Bay does know how to make a technically flawless and exceptionally-packaged summer blockbuster loaded with spectacle. But the director gives up on things after checking those aforementioned boxes.

LONDON, ENGLAND – JUNE 18: Director Michael Bay attends the global premiere of ‘Transformers: The Last Knight’ at Cineworld Leicester Square on June 18, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)
LONDON, ENGLAND – JUNE 18: Director Michael Bay attends the global premiere of ‘Transformers: The Last Knight’ at Cineworld Leicester Square on June 18, 2017 in London, England. (Photo by Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures) /

Transformers 5 is once again being hailed as Michael Bay’s last movie in the franchise. We so much want that to be true.

The biggest disappointment for Paramount must be the harsh truth that Transformers: The Last Knight failed to beat the opening weekend collections of any of its predecessors. Its 5-day opening weekend takings could barely match the $70 million 3-day opening figures of the first movie. And that was a decade ago. If we get down to check the proper 3-day weekend numbers of Transformers 5, then the figure dwindles to a miserable $45.3 million.

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The international market on the other hand has been generous and kind to Transformers 5, with China being the most lucrative one. The Chinese box office contributed all of $123.4 million to the international opening tally of $196 million. The global box office for The Last Knight now stands at a healthy $265 million.

Transformers 5 was made on a colossal budget of $217 million and given that it’s doing well overseas, chances of the movie being in the red at the end of its theatrical run are low. But The Last Knight’s dismal US box office numbers is a clean and clear message to its makers that the American audience will give up on the once-thriving franchise, if the creative team doesn’t serve a fresh new take on the much-loved toy line and characters.

Next: Overdrive Trailer Looks Like A Mashup Of Many Car Movies

All data and numbers featured in the post have been sourced from ComingSoon.Net and Boxofficemojo.com. If you are into box office tracking, then the latter is one of the best sites on the planet which features comprehensive box office reports on all Hollywood releases.

I still believe that there must be some redeeming qualities which will make Transformers: The Last Knight a decent watch as a popcorn-munching summer movie. Now that’s what I intend to find out next weekend and then sit down to write 5 Ups and 5 Downs of the movie thereafter.

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