This weekend at the box office saw “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” take the top spot with an estimated $60.5 million in its North American debut. The film, which is the seventh entry in the franchise, is set in 1994 and serves as a sequel to “Bumblebee” and a prequel to the other films. Critics were not overly impressed with the movie, giving it a 52% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but audiences, particularly males, gave it an A- CinemaScore and 4.5 out of 5 stars in PostTrak surveys. The film is expected to make most of its money abroad, as international ticket sales have accounted for at least 70% of the global box office total for the franchise since 2011’s “Transformers: Dark of the Moon.”
In second place was “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” which made an estimated $55.4 million in its second weekend. The film has already surpassed the total domestic box office of the first film, with $225.4 million in ticket sales, and is the highest grossing Sony Pictures Animation release.
Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” took third place with $23 million in its third weekend, while two other Disney releases, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” and “The Boogeyman,” rounded out the top five.
One original property, A24’s “Past Lives,” made waves in the specialty space, making $520,772 on just 26 screens in its second weekend for a $20,030 per screen average.
The summer movie season is expected to continue heating up, with major new films coming nearly every week. Pixar’s “Elemental” and “The Flash” are among the upcoming releases.