Transformers: Dark of the Moon Box Office Biggest in July 4 History

Transformers: Dark of the Moon box office numbers may not top the second movie in the long run. In fact, although Transformers 3 ultimately had the biggest Fourth of July box office numbers ever, it is still behind the pace of Revenge of the Fallen. But in spite of it all, Dark of the Moon racked up over $181 million in six days for one of the biggest domestic and global openings of all time.

The broken records include the largest three-day and four-day Fourth of July openings ever, ahead of Spider-Man 2. It also set records in dozens of countries around the world, making over $235 million in foreign grosses alone, according to Deadline Hollywood.

Yet for all of these records, the movie's long-term success may become small by the franchise's high standards. Revenge of the Fallen made $400 million in America, and Dark of the Moon will need to go a long way to match that. It should dominate the coming weekend against the likes of Zookeeper and Horrible Bosses, but avoiding mixed word of mouth and the coming onslaught from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 will be another matter.

These days, even huge box office numbers aren't always enough, as Green Lantern's $53 million opening weekend was still enough to label it a flop, especially after it tanked in subsequent weeks. Meanwhile, Cars 2 made over $65 million to start off, but it dropped off by 60 percent during the Fourth of July and will likely fall behind the pace of the original.

Since Green Lantern, Cars 2 and Transformers got mixed to bad reviews from critics and fans, that may help explain the drops a bit. Good word of mouth did more for the likes of Super 8, Bridesmaids and Midnight in Paris in future weeks, which is why they remained in the top 10 for the long weekend.

Still, if Dark of the Moon is held to any other standard than the earlier Transformers movies, it remains a record-setting smash. Yet it only has two weeks to enjoy those records, since Harry Potter is coming to knock it off as the biggest blockbuster of the summer very soon. It will open during a mere three-day weekend, but it will probably blow out Moon's $88.2 million three-day total and $115.8 four-day start as well.

Nevertheless, Dark of the Moon can count itself lucky at the box office, since few other movies have its kind of "problems." Tom Hanks probably wishes he had it, since Larry Crowne tanked for a mere $15.7 million in its first four days, only reaching fourth place for the weekend. But these days, human stars like Hanks are not as in demand as robots like Optimus Prime and Megatron.

Sources

Deadline Hollywood- "Transformers 3 Biggest July 4'th Weekend"

Entertainment Weekly- "Box office report: Transformers: Dark of the Moon blasts off with $116.4 mil holiday weekend"