Transformers: Age Of Extinction Could Be Year's First $100 Million Weekend

There’s good news and there’s bad news

when it comes to the opening night numbers of

Michael Bay’s Transformers: Age of Extinction,

meaning many tracking the success of the film

will have a few reasons to celebrate… and a

few reasons to wring their hands in worry.

Read more after the cap..

Michael Bay’s sequel, the fourth Transformers

movie in the blockbuster franchise, tallied $8.8

million in Thursday evening screenings, and an

additional, estimated $41.6 million on Friday.

These numbers have been posted by

BoxOfficeMojo, which will also tell you that it’s

the highest-earning day of the U.S. calendar,

beating May 16, when Godzilla earned $38.4

million in one day. This bodes well for

Transformers: Age of Extinction, which multiple

box-office sites are predicting could be the

first movie this year to enjoy a $100-million-

plus opening weekend.

Reason to celebrate, no? Here’s where things

start to get cloudy.

Even if it manages to sneak across the $100-

million mark in its debut weekend,

Transformers: Age of Extinction already is

starting slightly slower than its three metallic,

bombastic predecessors. While direct

comparisons are extremely difficult given the

fact that all of the Transformers movies opened

on different weekdays (all around the Fourth of

July holiday), the highest-grossing number

belongs to the second film -- Transformers:

Revenge of the Fallen -- which banked $62

million on its opening day back in 2009.

Numbers are in flux on the Transformers films,

however, as they usually had four- and five-

day weekends padding their box-office figures.

Either way, they usually make a lot of bank.

Paramount, as I’m sure you understand, was

hoping for a big boost on Transformers: Age of

Extinction, infusing the sequel with new human

characters played by Mark Wahlberg, Nicola

Peltz, Stanley Tucci and Kelsey Grammer. But

with Michael Bay still at the helm, the confusion

(and punishing duration) have led to poor

reviews. The movie has a 13% Fresh grade on

RT at the moment, which could hurt the film’s

momentum as the weekend continues.

Of course, Transformers: Age of Extinction

wants to tap into a much larger global market,

so overall international numbers will be worth

tracking as the movie rolls out. Plans beyond

this Transformers movie involved the start of a

new trilogy, with Transformers 5 allegedly

scheduled for a 2016 release date. The

numbers this weekend (and beyond) will

determine the future of the robotic franchise.