Weekend Box Office: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice beats Transformers One in a surprise upset

Industry estimates for the weekend had Paramount’s Transformers One, the critically acclaimed animated prequel, easily winning the weekend box office race with about $40 million. In our box office predictions, we were somewhat more conservative, expecting the animated pic to earn about $30 million. Yet, in a surprise twist of fate at the weekend box office, the film underperformed pretty drastically, allowing Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice to win the box office crown for the third week in a row, with the hit sequel making $26 million compared to Transformers One’s $25 million.

So what happened? It could be that audiences have just grown weary of the Transformers franchise, which has been on a downslide at the box office since back in 2017 when Transformers: The Last Knight earned about half what the previous instalment, Age of Extinction, did domestically. Since then, none of the Transformers movies have performed all that well domestically, with the highest grosser being Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, with $157 million. Yet, the franchise is still strong overseas, particularly in China, which is why the studio is still making them.

Transformers One was expected to reverse the downslide, being animated and sporting an all-star voice cast that includes Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, and Scarlett Johansson. But, despite an amazing A CinemaScore rating, audiences just did not turn out to see the movie. The audience reaction could mean that the movie will be a word-of-mouth hit, but it faces steep competition next weekend from The Wild Robot, which earned raves out of TIFF.

All told, this is a fabulous result for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which now has a huge $225 million domestic total and should have no trouble passing about $270-ish, with a $300 million finish not out of the question. Blumhouse’s well-reviewed Speak No Evil fell a modest 49% to $5.8 million this weekend, which is good for a genre flick. It’s made just over $21 million so far and should end up with a $30 million-ish gross.

It managed to beat Lionsgate’s Never Let Go, which continued the studio’s disastrous reign at the box office with a poor $4.5 million opening. At the end of the day, the movie’s hook just wasn’t enough to pull in a genre audience despite the presence of Halle Berry in the lead. The studio’s slate isn’t likely to get any better, with them also distributing Francis Ford Coppola’s critically maligned Megalopolis next weekend. 

Another horror flick, Mubi’s demented (and awesome) The Substance, underperformed this weekend, only making $3.1 million despite amazing reviews. It was beaten by Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine, which made $3.9 million for a smashing $627 million plus total. The controversial documentary Am I Racist?, earned $2.53 million, bringing its total to a decent $9 million (quite good for an independently distributed doc). At the same time, the biopic Reagan added another $1.7 million to its coffers for a $26.5 million total, with a potential $30 million finish in reach. Finally, the K-pop concert film Jung Kook: I Am Still made $1.42 million for a $2.57 million total, while Alien: Romulus started to close out its theatrical run with $1.32 million and a $103 million domestic total.

Next weekend sees the release of The Wild Robot. Will it be able to finally take down Beetlejuice Beetlejuice? Let us know in the comments!