Weekend Box Office Report: June 23-25, 2017

Transformers on top!

Director Michael Bay's seemingly interminable robot war hit theaters once more this weekend and put TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT in first place at the box office with an estimated $45.3 million!

The fifth chapter in the ongoing battle between Autobots and Decepticons has a domestic total of $69 million since it launched on Wednesday.

Neither figure comes close to the $100 million opening weekend of TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION in 2014, when Mark Wahlberg took over for Shia LaBeouf as the leading human of the series.

The popularity of Bay's cacophonous clash of CGI machines may be dwindling in North America, but it remains a major attraction elsewhere — THE LAST KNIGHT opened with nearly $200 million overseas. (AGE OF EXTINCTION ended with $1.1 billion worldwide, with only $245 million coming from domestic audiences.)

While the toy-turned-movie franchise is lucrative enough to justify spinning off into a "TRANSFORMERS Universe", critics continue to shrug and cringe at the property, giving the latest a 15% average on Rotten Tomatoes (the JoBlo review is HERE).

In second place was last weekend's champ CARS 3 with $25.1 million, slowing down 53% from its opening. The Pixar sequel has a ten-day domestic total that is just nudging the $100 million mark.

In third place, WONDER WOMAN continues to demonstrate astonishing box office strength with $25.1 million (practically tying for second, a position it might take when tomorrow's actual totals are calculated).

With a $318 million total after a month in theaters, the DC Comics superheroine has crushed the $291 million domestic total of MAN OF STEEL as she confidently strides toward the $325 million total of SUICIDE SQUAD and the $330 million finish of BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE (interesting to note that duel between DC's most famous two characters never even doubled its opening weekend of $166 million, while WONDER WOMAN herself has already more than tripled her $100 million start).

Director Patty Jenkins' Amazonian origin story also has a worldwide total of $652 million. If you're a "Marvel vs. DC" fanatic, that edges WONDER WOMAN's global total above THOR: THE DARK WORLD ($644 million) and the first two IRON MAN movies ($585 million and $623 million), marching toward the $677 million finish of DOCTOR STRANGE.

Things take a dive after the top three, with shark movie 47 METERS DOWN floating up a spot to fourth with $7.4 million, drifting just 33% from its opening last week. The Mandy Moore thriller has a ten-day total $24.2 million — not bad for a movie originally destined for a VOD release.

The Tupac Shakur biopic ALL EYEZ ON ME was in fifth with $5.8 million, losing an eyebrow-raising 77% of business from last weekend's opening. The R-rated look at the rapper's life has a ten-day domestic total of $38.6 million.

Tom Cruise's horror-adventure THE MUMMY shambled in sixth place with $5.8 million, bringing the domestic total to $68.5 million after three weekends. The PG-13 launch of the proposed "Dark Universe" monster series now has a worldwide total of $342 million (on a reported cost of $125 million).

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES was in seventh with $5.2 million, followed by the R-rated comedy ROUGH NIGHT with $4.7 million. The Scarlett Johansson bachelorette bash dropped 41% from its opening last week for a ten-day domestic total of $16.6 million (it cost a reported $20 million). CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS: THE FIRST EPIC ADVENTURE was in ninth, and Marvel's GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 hung on at the bottom, still in the Top 10 after two months.

Outside the chart, IT COMES AT NIGHT disappeared into the darkness. In limited release, Kumail Nanjiani's acclaimed comedy THE BIG SICK earned a per-screen average of $87k (the year's highest so far) to go with its stellar reviews — 97% on Rotten Tomatoes, with the JoBlo review HERE.

Also getting a solid start in limited release was Sofia Coppola's new adaptation of period drama THE BEGUILED with a $60k per-screen average. Not performing quite as well was the cannibal horror movie THE BAD BATCH, stumbling into 30 locations for just a $3k per-screen average (although it's also available via VOD).

Next weekend goes into the July 4th holiday with the R-rated Will Ferrell/Amy Poehler comedy THE HOUSE, the animated sequel DESPICABLE ME 3 and (on Wednesday) filmmaker Edgar Wright's fast-moving crime caper BABY DRIVER, while limited releases include director Bong Joon-ho's creature movie OKJA.

What has been your favorite release of the summer movie season so far? VOTE HERE!