DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" sold $120.1 million in
tickets on Wednesday, with the U.S. total of $60.6 million setting
a record for movies debuting on that day and second overall.
The domestic take, more than analysts were expecting, sets the
stage for the sequel to top the $319 million the first film in the
series generated in 2007, and $708 million overall.
The results are good news for Viacom Inc. (VIA), whose Paramount
Pictures and former unit DreamWorks SKG are behind the big-screen
version of the 1980s cartoon series.
The prior top spots for Wednesday-opening films was "Harry
Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," which had $44.2 million in
ticket sales on its opening day in 2007. The sixth film in the
Potter series opens on July 15, another Wednesday.
Overall, the "Transformers" sequel had the second-biggest
opening day, behind last summer's smash "The Dark Knight." It had a
$67.2 million and went on to become the second film to gross more
than $500 million domestically. It opened on a Friday, which
generates the biggest box-office business of any weekday.
The sequel's international gross was led by $18.7 million in the
United Kingdom, Ireland and Malta.
-By Kevin Kingsbury, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2136;
kevin.kingsbury@dowjones.com