“Transformers” Opens Midnight Screenings at $13.5 Million

The latest installment of Michael Bay’s “Transformers” series opened with $13.5 million in ticket sales for its opening night of midnight showings on 3,000 screens. “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” is the third film in the “Transformers” saga and expected to be one of the biggest blockbusters of the summer. The film fell shy of its latest release “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” that opened its first night at $16.6 million. Although the film has received only a 37% fresh rating from RottenTomatoes.com, it is still expected to bring in between $150-180 million in its first six days with some experts claiming $500 million is possible, easily recouping its $185 million budget. The record for the biggest opening night is still held from last summer’s “The Twilight Saga:Eclipse” at $30 million.

This is the first film of the series that does not include actress Megan Fox. It was announced during pre-production that Megan would be replaced after calling Transformer’s director Michael Bay “Hitler” during a 2009 interview with Wonder Magazine. Victoria Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley ended up taking her place. Rosie talked to GQ Magazine about her experience on set saying, “I was really grateful to everybody, from the people in the catering department to the camera boys to the producers to Shia.” What a humble individual.

Now lets find out if “Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon” will live up to its hype and surpass the $836 million goal of “Revenge of the Fallen”. Only time will tell.

Video and Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures