Despite excellent reviews and good word-of-mouth from fans, Transformers One is having a bad time at the box office this weekend. Deadline states the highly anticipated animated prequel is only on track for a $26 million weekend. That’s just a little less than the $30 million we predicted – which was way more than industry projections, which saw the film opening with $40 million (wishful thinking).
There’s a good chance Transformers One will be beaten at the box office by Beetlejuice Beetlejuice in its third weekend, with that movie on track for a terrific $25 million. And Transformers One isn’t the only good movie struggling to find an audience this weekend. The Substance, one of the best body horror movies since The Fly, only looks like it will make in the $2.5-3 million range. It’s being distributed by the streamer MUBI, who’ve opted to capitalize on the buzz and give it a big 2000-screen release, but those numbers are fairly anemic, which is a shame as it’s a great movie.
Meanwhile, Lionsgate continues its seemingly cursed run at the box office with Never Let Go, a Halle Berry-led horror flick that will only open in the $4 million range. The movie also earned a poor C+ CinemaScore rating. Next weekend won’t be any better for them, with Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis on track for another disastrous opening.
Is it really any good? Asking as someone who grew up with the Transformers from the 80’s on, every commercial/trailer I’ve seen for One seems lackluster and the animation style really cheap and off putting. Maybe it’s not an accurate representation of the film as a whole (wouldn’t be the first time)? Is the storyline enough to make up for it?
47 year old dude who saw it Friday night with my 14 year old son. We are both G1 fans and rank the 1986 movie as the best on by far. This new movie is now the second best Transformers movie ever animated or not.
I was extremely hesitant to see it because I didn’t know what to expect and I was expecting it to be marketed to kids. I think they fumbled the marketing for the movie. It’s a damn good movie.
Welp, sounds like I’m giving it a shot then, thanks!
Right? There whole franchise is a trainwreck.
i am in the bullseye of the target audience, and I couldn’t possibly care any less about this.
I went in with no intentions of it being good and no need for a prequel or rehash of the G1 timeframe I grew up loving dearly and subsequently watching my oldest son fall in love with the same G1 franchise and original 1986 movie gave me so much warmth.
I did not see this movie for me in any way. I’m old and jaded and can wax poetic about the 1986 movie for hours. I have gone on record at times saying it’s the best movie ever made.
That said, T One was the movie I never knew I needed.