Transformers 2 Edges Ice Age 3 on Thursday

July 03, 2009

The July 4th box office showdown is well underway and the eventual winner is way too close to call.

Thursday's estimated box office results saw Michael Bay's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen narrowly best Fox's Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs by a margin of $11.5 million to $11.1 million. That's a close call, and revised numbers expected later today may move the two films even closer.

Although Transformers 2 came in second on Wednesday by less than $2 million, it continues to outperform at the box office having already been playing for a week and a half. Ice Age 3 is only in its third day of release today not counting special Father's Day advanced screenings across the country.

With Thursday's gross, Transformers 2 has crossed the $250 million mark to come in at $250.9 million. If Friday can bring in $10 million and each weekend day another $20 million apiece, both reasonable expectations, then Transformers 2 will have made $300 million domestically in less than two weeks time. Not too shabby for a Rotten Tomatoes bust.

Public Enemies with Johnny Depp and Christian Bale added another $6.6 million on Thursday to bring its two-day cumulative total to $14.8 million. The numbers should increase heading into the weekend amounting to a successful launch for Michael Mann's latest.

Check back throughout the weekend as I report on Friday, Saturday and Sunday box office returns for what is shaping up to become a hugely successful July 4th weekend for movie studios.