a dog-eared town

I suppose someone out there likes the movie. It can’t all be a triumph of marketing over movie making can it?

For Independence Day weekend, Hollywood’s latest apocalyptic picture transfixed droves of moviegoers in one of the fastest-grossing starts on record for a non-sequel.

Rolling out on approximately 7,600 screens at 4,011 theaters, Transformers waged an estimated $143.7 million in its first six days, not including $8.8 million from Monday night previews which brings the tally to $152.5 million. That was enough to place DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures’ $150 million robo-spectacle among the top ten highest-grossing six-day starts of all time, second only to the first Spider-Man among non-sequels.

Never liked the toon and the movie doesn’t do anything for me. It’s a typical summer movie that has no appeal to me. Oh well. Here’s the rest of the top 10 movies for the past weekend.

1. 1. Transformers $22.7M Fri, $25.9M Sat, and est $18.9M Sun. (cume $152.5M)
2. 2. Ratatouille $9.4M Fri, $10.9M Sat, and est $8.7M Sun. ($109.5M)
3. 3. Live Free Or Die Hard $5.3M Fri, $6.7M Sat, and est $5.1M Sun. ($83.8M)
4. 4. License To Wed $3.7M Fri, $3.8M Sat, and est $2.8M Sun. ($17.8M)
5. 5. Evan Almighty $2.7M Fri, $3M Sat, and est $2.4M Sun. ($78.1M)
6. 6. 1408 $2.4M Fri, $2.6M Sat, and est $2M Sun. ($53.7M)
7. 7. Knocked Up $1.6M Fri, $1.9M Sat, and est $1.5M Sun. ($132M)
8. 8. Silver Surfer $1.2M Fri, $1.5M Sat, and est $1.1M Sun. ($123.5M)
9. 9. Ocean’s Thirteen $1.1K Fri, $1.4M Sat, and est $1K Sun. ($109.2M)
10. 10. Sicko $1M Fri, $1.3M Sat, and est $1K Sun. ($11.3M)