‘Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts’ Looks To Roar With $155M+ Worldwide, But Could Get Sideswiped By ‘Spidey’ In U.S. – Box Office Preview

This is one very unusual David vs. Goliath story.

Katie Reul editor The official trailer for Sony’s “Dumb Money” has dropped, shedding light on how a group of amateur investors artificially increased the stock value of GameStop, the popular video game retailer. The short squeeze occurred in January 2021 after Reddit users on a page called “Wall Street Bets” united to catalyze a market explosion. As a result, significant hedge funds and independent short sellers incurred devastating financial loss. Based on author Ben Mezrich’s “The Antisocial Network,” “Dumb Money” similarly centers around the Reddit users behind the phenomenon with actors Seth Rogen, Paul Dano, Sebastian Stan and Pete Davidson in lead roles.

Selome Hailu As Billie Eilish treated herself to a bowl of soup the day after her headlining performance at the first weekend of Coachella 2022, she learned that Donald Glover was looking for her. “I was on some management call, and I remember being told, ‘There’s this show, but it’s during a period of time where you’re not available. It’s a pass,”’ she says about the first time she heard about Amazon Prime Video’s “Swarm.” “I was like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, what the fuck are you talking about? This is my dream!”’ The daughter of actors Maggie Baird and Patrick O’Connell, Eilish grew up acting in plays, but as her pop music stardom grew, she shelved those ambitions. “I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t wanna do this anymore.’ I did, but it’s always been a deep thing that I’ve been reluctant to talk about because I thought I was really bad.”

Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts, released in UK cinemas last week, features an extended action sequence on Machu Picchu – and in an exclusive interview with NME, the cast revealed the strict guidelines they had to follow during filming on the sacred Inca mountain ridge.In the sixth film in the franchise, which is based on the successful Hasbro toy line of fighting robot aliens, Dominique Fishback (Swarm) and Anthony Ramos (In The Heights) play humans caught up in a war for space supremacy between the Autobots and their evil enemies the Terrorcons. The movie switches location half-way through to Machu Picchu, Peru, where production on the historic religious site dating back to the 1450s is closely controlled.“You definitely couldn’t eat or drink or anything on the mountain,” said Fishback. “And you had to hike back down in order to use the bathroom or anything.

EXCLUSIVE: After the Transformers was gearing down, filmmaker Steven Caple Jr. was able to put gas back into the tank of the storied Paramount Hasbro movie franchise with Rise of the Beasts this weekend which opened to $171M worldwide, stealing the crown from Sony Animation’s strong Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. On today’s episode of Crew Call, Caple Jr. tells us he’s in talks for another Transformers sequel — and much of that involves that cliffhanger scene between Anthony Ramos and Michael Kelly.

**Spoiler Alert – This discusses the end of “Transformers: Rise of the Beats.” You’ve been warned.** For folks who saw “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” over the weekend, they were likely surprised by the very end of the film, which saw a MCU-style crossover moment between two massive franchises. And according to the filmmakers involved with ‘Rise of the Beasts,’ this isn’t just a throwaway moment.

“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” stormed into theatres worldwide this weekend, amassing a staggering $110 million at the international box office. 

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” kicked off at the international box office with $110 million from 68 markets, including a decent $40 million start in China. The seventh installment in Paramount’s action franchise also pulled in $60 million in its North American debut, bringing its worldwide tally to a solid $170 million. Overseas audiences will be key to the theatrical success of “Transformers,” which cost $200 million. Prior entries in the 16-year-old series have earned as much as 70% of overall box office returns outside of the U.S. and Canada. At the international box office, ticket sales for “Rise of the Beasts” are pacing 32% below “Bumblebee,” which is the most recent entry in the series. The newest chapter has managed to set franchise records in eight smaller markets, including Indonesia, Argentina and Peru. The Autobots will take the box office milestones where they can get them.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Spider-Man put up a good fight, but the Autobots came out on top. After an unusually close box office battle, Paramount’s “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” pulled ahead of “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” debuting in first place to $60.5 million from 3,678 theaters. Sony’s animated “Spider-Verse sequel still managed a mighty second weekend, landing in second place with $55.4 million from 4,332 theaters. Initial ticket sales for “Rise of the Beasts,” which is the seventh installment in the “Transformers” franchise,” were notably better than the prior two entries, 2018’s “Bumblebee” ($21.6 million) and 2017’s “The Last Knight” ($44.68 million). It’s an encouraging sign that Paramount’s action series isn’t yet running on fumes. That’s been a concern because the more recent chapters brought back diminishing returns after softer starts. Reviews for “Rise of the Beasts” were mixed, but audiences embraced the film with an “A-” CinemaScore.

“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” the latest installment in the big-screen, live-action adaptation of the beloved Hasbro toy line. “Rise of the Beasts,” which is the planned start of a new trilogy, is the seventh film in the series. Chronologically, it comes after “Bumblebee,” which was a prequel to the first five films in the series.

J. Kim Murphy The summer season has its first genuine battle for top of the heap, as “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” looks to fend off last week’s top release “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.” “Rise of the Beasts” put its foot on the gas with $25 million on its opening day, a figure that includes $8.8 million in Thursday previews. The film is projected to land near a $60 million opening through the three-day frame, which would land at the higher end of estimates heading into the weekend. Once a box office juggernaut, Paramount has attempted to reengineer the “Transformers” franchise for future longevity. The first three entries, directed by Michael Bay, each crossed $300 million in North American grosses, while threequel “Dark of the Moon” and its follow-up “Age of Extinction” both surpassed $1 billion worldwide. But Bay’s final production, 2017’s “Transformers: The Last Knight,” saw diminished returns, finishing with $130 million stateside and $605 million worldwide — almost half of the $1.1 billion in ticket sales earned by “Age of Extinction.” Paramount released the spinoff “Bumblebee” in 2018, produced on a comparatively smaller budget and met with $467 million worldwide.

Jordan Moreau SPOILER ALERT: This contains major spoilers about the ending of “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” now playing in theaters. Is this the beginning of the Hasbro Cinematic Universe? After rumors of a crossover between the “Transformers” and “G.I. Joe” franchises circulated online in recent months, it seems like the ultimate ’80s action-toy mash-up is officially happening. The ending of “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” has a direct callout to the Joes, and director Steven Caple Jr. and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura spoke to Variety at the film’s premiere about what to expect next from the series.

Jon Burlingame On the scoring stage at 20th Century-Fox studios in Burbank, composer Jongnic Bontemps is walking around in a “Transformers: The Movie” T-shirt – that’s the animated cartoon from 1986, not the $200-million summer blockbuster he’s just scored. “Violins, play a little softer,” he tells the musicians via intercom from the glass booth behind the stage. “It has to be emotional.” Later, after a rehearsal on a different cue, he tells the string players, “It needs to feel like a warm blanket.” Bontemps is making movie history. He has just spent two years writing the music for “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” the seventh in the big-screen franchise, and he’s supervising the recording of the final pieces of the score with a 74-piece orchestra. The film opens Friday.

Jordan Moreau The Autobots are rolling out once again at the box office. “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” picked up $8.8 million at the domestic box office in Thursday previews. It’s revving up to battle last week’s No. 1 movie, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” in its opening weekend. Paramount’s “Rise of the Beasts” is looking to bring in $50 million to $60 million this weekend, but its box office wheels may get caught in the web of “Across the Spider-Verse,” which is aiming for $45 million to $55 million in its sophomore outing. Last week, Sony’s Spidey sequel opened with a massive $120 million.

2018’s surprising “Bumblebee” gave us some hope that the series still had some gas in the tank. Running time: 127 minutes. Rated PG-13 (intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and language.) In theaters.Wrong! The fuel gauge is at “E” — for excruciating.

Anthony Ramos hit the red carpet in a cool pink suit for the latest premiere of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts!

Actor Anthony Ramos has been planning for this next move for quite some time. With parts in films like “In The Heights” and the popular musical “Hamilton,” he’s poised to be more than simply a Latino action star, but an action star imbued with a little Brooklyn and Puerto Rican flavor, as he demonstrates in “Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts.” It is his second leading part but his first in such a large-scale franchise.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” is readying to turbocharge the box office, targeting $50 million to $60 million in its opening weekend. There’s a chance that inaugural ticket sales could climb higher as the Paramount Pictures film touches down on Friday in 3,700 North American theaters. But the latest Autobot adventure is expected to face headwinds from last weekend’s champion, Sony’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.” The animated comic book sequel launched to $120 million and looks to add $45 million to $55 million in its second weekend of release. That’s close to double what the original, 2019’s “Into the Spider-Verse,” earned in its debut. Yep, Spidey’s still got it.

With just four days until “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” hits theatres, Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback chat about filming the franchise’s seventh instalment, plus Ramos reveals what it was like to suit up in his own autobot costume.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic The early “Transformers” films — in fact, just about all the “Transformers” films — were two things at once. They were industrial showroom expos of chop-shop magicianship, with cars and trucks and motorcycles turning themselves inside out, their guts flipping as if a trash compactor had exploded into bits and pieces, only to reassemble themselves into towering robots. The spectacle of those gigantic shape-shifting droids is something that I, more than a lot of critics, always found to be fun. But, of course, the “Transformers” movies were also unrestrained pileups of sheer Michael Bay-ness — kiddie diversion on processed steroids. The plots sprawled all over the place yet somehow never mattered; the films went on way too long; the endless clashing titans made you yearn for the human nuance of a “Godzilla” movie.