“Transformers 3” Takes $400M at Global Box Office

Latest battle between Autobots and Decepticons post year's top opening weekend sales

Never underestimate the money-making powers of sweet special effects and scantily clad young women.

"Transformers: Dark of the Moon" raked in $116.4 million domestically over the four-day Fourth of July weekend and $181.1 million since its opening on Tuesday, distributor Paramount Pictures said, according to The Associated Press. This makes the alien-robot three-quel the film with the highest grossing opening weekend of the year, surpassing the $90.2 million debut of Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides."

Overseas revenue added another $217 million to bring "Transformers'" global box office haul close to $400 million, the AP reported.

On Sunday, Entertainment Weekly reported the Michael Bay flick broke the three-day Independence Day weekend record for domestic revenue, which was previously held by "Spider-Man 2," at $88.2 million.

Showings in 3-D accounted for 60 percent of the movie's gross earnings, EW reported. This may indicate a growing public appetite for viewing films in this format, said Eric Wold of New York-based investment analysis group Merriman Capital, Bloomberg reported. Showings in 3-D accounted for less than half of ticket sales from other recent movies, like "Kung Fu Panda 2" and "Cars 2," according to Bloomberg.

And we'll give you one guess as to who has rushed to theaters to see the explosions and a partially clothed Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. The "Transformers" audience is 62 percent male and 55 percent under age 25, according to Paramount estimates, Entertainment Weekly wrote.

Selected Reading: Associated Press, Entertainment Weekly, Bloomberg

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