Rise Of The Beasts Topped The Box Office, But Transformers May Still Be In Trouble

After nearly five years away (and longer since the last main entry in the series), "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" brought the robots in disguise back to theaters — and this time, they brought some fan-favorite "Beast Wars" characters with them. Turns out, a healthy number of moviegoers still want to watch giant alien robots duke it out on the big screen, as the film managed to overtake "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" and claimed the number one spot at the box office. Unfortunately, it may not be enough to justify further, tremendously expensive "Transformers" movies. More on that in a bit.

Director Steven Caple Jr.'s "Rise of the Beasts" took in $60.5 million domestically on its opening weekend, per The Numbers. It was enough to put "Across the Spider-Verse" ($55.4 million) in the number two spot, with the two films in a tight race heading into the weekend. The figure was at the top end of estimates, and well above 2018's "Bumblebee" ($21.6 million opening/$465 million worldwide). "Rise of the Beasts," which takes place in the '90s and serves as a sequel of sorts to "Bumblebee," also added a pretty robust $110 million internationally for a $170.5 million global opening. Under most circumstances, this would be unquestionably worth celebrating. However, there are some caveats here.

For one, Paramount's latest "Transformers" movie comes with a hefty $195 million production budget. That's a whole lot more than "Bumblebee" ($102 million), yet less than Michael Bay's "Transformers: The Last Knight" ($217 million). These movies have never been cheap to make, but this opening weekend suggests that "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" will probably finish over/under $500 million worldwide. Against a budget of that size, it's far from a home run.

Does this mean that Paramount is going to stop making "Transformers" movies? Almost certainly not. They've already got the animated "Transformers One" due to hit theaters next year, and "Rise of the Beasts" absolutely sets up a pretty ambitious sequel. That having been said, the budget situation needs to be looked at; with these movies seemingly no longer capable of delivering the high highs of "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" ($1.12 billion) or "Transformers: Age of Extinction" ($1.1 billion), Paramount should rethink its upfront spending on future sequels.

That having been said, the franchise crossed a huge milestone over the weekend as the franchise has now, in total, amassed just over $5 billion at the global box office. That's something few franchises can claim, and getting the job done with seven movies over 16 years shows strong consistency. In short, there's still an audience for these movies, it's just not $200 million budget big anymore.

In fairness, Paramount isn't alone in contending with overly-huge budgets these days, particularly with major franchise films. It's a problem that's been creeping up on Hollywood for a long time now, and the pandemic only served to make it a lot worse. It's something the industry needs to contend with sooner rather than later. For now, Paramount gets to take a relatively small victory and hope that "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" can hold well enough in the weeks ahead.

As mentioned, "Across the Spider-Verse" took the number two spot with $55.4 million. That represents a 54% drop week-to-week, which is just fine considering the major competition. Sony's animated sequel has already amassed $390 million worldwide, surpassing 2018's "Into the Spider-Verse" in just two weekends. The film figures to end its run with at least $600 million worldwide — if not much more. It's an absolute home run.

Rounding out the top five were a trio of Disney titles in the form of "The Little Mermaid ($22.79 million), "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" ($7 million), and "The Boogeyman" ($6.91 million). The good news for "The Little Mermaid" is that it's doing great domestically, with $228.8 million to date. The bad news is that overseas audiences don't care nearly as much, with $185.4 million internationally thus far. It will probably finish with a little more than $500 million, which is kind of brutal given the $250 million budget. Again, the inflated budget thing is not an isolated issue.

Meanwhile, "Guardians 3" crossed a big milestone and now sits at $805.9 million worldwide. Given the declines for Hollywood in China and the lack of box office from Russia, this is an unmitigated win for Marvel and Disney. All things being equal, this installment probably would have surpassed "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" ($863 million worldwide). As for "The Boogeyman," with $39.6 million worldwide through two weekends, it's mostly good news for Disney. Yes, the movie carries a $35 million budget, but it was originally supposed to go directly to Hulu. This is all money the studio wouldn't have had otherwise. Expect fewer direct-to-streaming releases.

Looking ahead, we've got a stacked weekend coming with DC's "The Flash," Pixar's "Elemental," and Lionsgate's "The Blackening" all hitting theaters. More than likely, we'll have a new champion.

Top ten movies at the box office June 9 – 11, 2023

1. "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" – $60.5 million

2. "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" – $55.4 million

3. "The Little Mermaid" – $22.79 million

4. "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" – $7 million

5. "The Boogeyman" – $6.91 million

6. "Fast X" – $5.2 million

7. "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" – $2.12 million

8. "About My Father" – $845,000

9. "The Machine" – $575,000

10. "Past Lives" – $520,772