Every time a new "Transformers" film opens, what immediately comes to my mind is, "Who watches this crap?" OK, fine, I get it. Twelve year old boys with extreme ADD is the obvious answer, but then I figure even 12 year old boys eventually grow up and move on. But considering that the last two "Transformers" films made over $1 billion each worldwide, the more likely answer is that there are a hell of a lot of man/boys all over the world who refuse to grow up.
The pickings must be very, very slim these days. And yet there was a possible (and hopeful) sign that the glow on these "Transformers" films had begun to fade since the latest installment, subtitled "The Last Knight", opened last week, with the lowest opening ever for any "Transformers" film, at just over $69 million.
Granted that's just a one million less than what the first "Transformers" film opened with, but it's $30-38 million less than what the last three films in the franchise opened with.
However there are man/boys all over the world, so while it earned relatively disappointing numbers domestically, "The Last Knight" made another $196 million overseas, meaning that, in the long run, it could do almost as well as the third film in the series, "Revenge of the Fallen", which grossed $836 million worldwide.
And there are two more movies in the franchise in the works.
As for the Tupac Shakur bio-pic "All Eyez on Me", things got rather messy last week. First John Singleton, who is currently doing a publicity tour to hype his new FX series "Snowfall", not surprisingly took every opportunity at every interview to put down the film. Then things got messier when the filmmakers of "Eyez" publicly responded, claiming that Singleton's script for the Tupac film contained wild inaccuracies and scandalous details that never happened in Shakur's real life.
But then to make things even messier, writer and activist Kevin Powell released a public statement a few days ago stating that, after seeing "Eyez" twice, he had no choice but to file a copyright infringement lawsuit against the movie's filmmakers, claming that three Vibe magazine cover stories he wrote about Tupac when he was still alive were "lifted, without proper credit or compensation of any kind to me, and used in the film"; and that "as a result, as the owner of the copyright to these articles, ALL EYEZ ON ME infringed on my rights by using content and narrative that was exclusive to my writings. I am seeking justice and a resolution in this matter that is fully fair to me and all the work I’ve done throughout the years, as an author and protector of the Tupac Shakur narrative".
But yet amazingly things got even messier than that, when it was revealed the day after Powell filed his suit, that his articles contained totally fictionalized incidents that didn't happen and persons who did not exist. So Powell is suing the producers of "Eyez" based on material he wrote that is actually partly fiction.
And all this mess, along with poor word of mouth just wasn't good for the film, and "Eyez" dropped by a huge 78% to fifth place during its second weekend in release. That happens to be the single biggest second week dropoff for any film so far this year; even more than films such as "King Arthur" or "Baywatch" or "The Mummy" which all under-performed. In fact, despite itd relativity low budget, a 78% dropoff means that the film will struggle to break even.
As for Warner/DC's "Wonder Woman", the film just keeps going with $318 million domestically (which surpasses "Batman vs. Superman" domestically) and $652 million worldwide. In addition, I think that I may have to revise my prediction that WW will equal Warner/DC's "Suicide Squad" worldwide grosses, and now predict that it will go beyond it, hitting the one billion mark globally if it keeps up its current pace at the box office, which is still very strong.
Last week's number one film Disney/Pixar's "Cars 3" dropped to No.2 with just under $100 million domestically; however its performance overseas seems to be rather sluggish, grossing only $44 million to date. But it has yet to open wide in Europe, Asia and most of Latin America, so perhaps its overall box office outcome will turn out better.
In the meantime, "Rough Night" can now join "The Mummy", "King Arthur" and "Baywatch" as one of big box office busts of the summer; although, believe me, there are more to come.
This weekend's top 12 grossing films below:
1) Transformers: The Last Knight Par. $45,300,000 Total: $69,095,489
2) Cars 3 BV $25,175,000 Total: $99,882,893
3) Wonder Woman WB $25,175,000 Total: $318,380,158
4) 47 Meters Down ENTMP $7,435,000 Total: $24,260,932
5) All Eyez on Me LG/S $5,850,000 Total: $38,642,319
6) The Mummy Uni. $5,836,900 Total: $68,520,570
7) Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales BV $5,239,000 Total: $160,004,326
8) Rough Night Sony $4,700,000 Total: $16,634,947
9) Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie Fox $4,280,000 Total: $1,838 $65,743,176
10) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 BV $3,000,000 Total: $380,213,327
11) Beatriz At Dinner RAtt. $1,817,550 Total: $3,011,330
12) Baywatch Par. $1,458,000 Total: $56,607,889
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