Transformers Takes The Box Office, But Spider-Verse Still Swinging High

"Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" is shaking things up at the box office, pushing "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" down to the number two spot.

Paramount Pictures' "Transformers" franchise is receiving a healthy win at the box office this weekend. Deadline reports that the Steven Caple Jr.-directed "Rise of the Beasts" has raked in $60.5 million at the domestic box office, taking the number one spot. A sequel to 2018's "Bumblebee," the latest robot-on-robot action fest boasts an A- CinemaScore, signaling positive reception from audiences. While Looper is mixed on the reboot, critic Dominic Griffin finds the film's action to be daring and engaging, though Michael Bay's special touch is missed.

Thanks to debut north of $60 million, "Rise of the Beasts" holds the fifth-highest opening weekend of any live-action "Transformers" movie, coming ahead of Bay's "Last Knight" and Travis Knight's "Bumblebee" outing. With solid feedback from audiences, the "Transformers" franchise is staging a major comeback. Expect modest drops in the coming weeks as word of mouth drives "Rise of the Beasts" to a decent profit. Premium Large Formats account for 31% of ticket sales for the seventh live-action "Transformers" pic.

On the international front, "Rise of the Beasts" is making a mark with a $110 million debut. China showed up, tossing the Paramount blockbuster $40 million.  Seeing as the "Transformers" franchise thrives internationally, particularly in Asia, this is a solid debut. Here's hoping that audiences in the Middle Kingdom can help push the film to a $100 million total there. Mexico and South Korea are major markets, raking in $7.3 million and $4.4 million, respectively.

With a global debut of $170 million, "Rise of the Beasts" is on track to be one of the summer's biggest films.

Second place at the box office goes to "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse." The animated juggernaut brought home $55.4 million for Sony, dropping 54% from last week's whopping $120 million cume. This is a solid hold for "Spider-Verse," especially considering it lost several PLF screens, including IMAX theaters, to "Rise of the Beasts." The domestic total stands at $225.4 million, surpassing "Into the Spider-Verse's" $190 million cume in just over a week. In fact, "Across the Spider-Verse" has already outgrossed its 2018 predecessor's total of $375 million, with the sequel boasting a worldwide total of $389.5 million. With a budget of $100 million, "Across the Spider-Verse" is already swinging to a healthy profit.

How far can the sequel run? Considering the film has one of the healthiest drops for a Marvel movie, it's possible that the animated flick could leg its way to over $650 million worldwide. The best-case scenario would be a total above $700 million, which would see it outgrossing "The Amazing Spider-Man 2," the lowest-grossing live-action Spidey flick.

As it stands, this is one of the healthiest weekends at the summer box office, with two blockbuster films living in harmony. "The Little Mermaid" also made waves at the box office with a $22 million domestic catch, bringing its worldwide total to $228 million. "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3," Marvel Studios' only summer offering this year, blasted its way to $335 million domestically. Globally, James Gunn's threequel finally crossed the $800 million mark.