It looks like audiences – or Western ones, at least – may finally be tiring of the Transformers franchise, with the latest instalment Transformers: The Last Knight debuting to a series low at the U.S. box office, grossing a $69.1 million five-day opening, and just $45.3 million across the Friday to Sunday period.
For comparison, the previous franchise low was the first Transformers, which opened with $70.5 million back in 2007, while the fourth entry Transformers: Age of Extinction began its run in 2014 with $100.0 million.
It’s not all bad news for The Last Knight though, as the film did pull in a further $196.2 million from international markets, including a hefty $123.4 million from China. The international opening is actually up on Age of Extinction, which kicked off with $189.1 million on its way to $858.6 million internationally and a $1.104 billion total worldwide.
The Last Knight shatters the core myths of the Transformers franchise and redefines what it means to be a hero. Humans and Transformers are at war, Optimus Prime is gone. The key to saving our future lies buried in the secrets of the past, in the hidden history of Transformers on Earth. Saving our world falls upon the shoulders of an unlikely alliance: Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg); Bumblebee; an English Lord (Sir Anthony Hopkins); and an Oxford Professor (Laura Haddock). There comes a moment in everyone’s life when we are called upon to make a difference. In Transformers: The Last Knight, the hunted will become heroes. Heroes will become villains. Only one world will survive; theirs, or ours.
Transformers: The Last Knight reunites Michael Bay with franchise veterans Mark Wahlberg, Josh Duhamel, Stanley Tucci, John Turturro, John Goodman and Peter Cullen, while new additions to the cast include Isabela Moner (100 Things to Do Before High School), Jerrod Carmichael (Bad Neighbours), Laura Haddock (Guardians of the Galaxy), Santiago Cabrera (Merlin), Liam Garrigan (Once Upon a Time), Mitch Pileggi (The X-Files) and Anthony Hopkins (Thor: The Dark World). The film hits theaters on June 22nd, 2017.
