It truly is a battle at the box office this weekend as Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse are in a virtual dead heat for first place with both currently forecasted to finish around $58 million (per Deadline). That total comes after Transformers posted $8.8 million in preview screenings on its way to what as of right now looks to be a $25 million Friday total.
The big question will be how good or bad word of mouth is for this seventh live action Transformers movie as reviews for the film are lukewarm with our own Eric Walkuski giving the film a 6/10 in his review while the audience score is currently at an 89%, which is pretty solid, especially when the last two Transformer films(BumbleBee and The Last Knight) only boasted 74% and 43% respectively.
All eyes will be on today’s numbers with most families heading to theaters, will they choose a lean 127 minute PG13 live action Transformer movie with middling reviews or a 140 minute PG rated animated Spider-Man movie that has stellar reviews? I will stand by my predictions from Thursday by saying that I still think Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse wins the weekend as word of mouth for that movie seems to be at Super Mario Bros. Movie levels, but final numbers may be closer than I expected, especially when you consider Transformers has taken over most of the PLF (Premium Large Format) theaters this weekend.
Whatever comes in first and second this weekend, The Little Mermaid has locked up that third spot with what is looking like a $24 million weekend, dropping just 41% which will put the live action Disney film trailing their live action Aladdin by about 1% at similar points in their respective runs.
Will you do your part and go see either Transformers: Rise of the Beasts or Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse this weekend to help nudge one of them over the edge to a first place finish? Let us know in the comments section and don’t forget to check back tomorrow when we have the full rundown of the box office numbers, complete with an official weekend champion!