Tie Schmie! Transformers Wins Again!

Coming into the 4^th of July weekend, “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” was on a rampage at the box office, amassing $200 million in five days. Given the abysmal reviews, this surprised a lot of people, yours truly included. But word of mouth must have trickled down, because “Transformers” dropped 61 percent and barely edged out “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” for first place with $42.4 million. In fact, it was so close, weekend estimates had the two films tied yesterday.

What does that mean for “Transformers?” It means Optimus Prime and Company won’t knock of “Titanic” like some of the weak-minded rabble has shouted from the peanut gallery. It also means this movie is potentially vulnerable this weekend. I thought it would take the arrival of Harry Potter to knock off the Autobots and Decepticons, but who knows, maybe Bruno could knock Michael Bay’s craptastic sequel to the curb.

With “Transformers” and “Ice Age” nabbing spots one and two, the rest of the box office was as predicted – “Public Enemies,” opening to mixed reviews, pulled down $25 million, followed by the ever-strong, ever-likable “The Proposal” at $12 million and “The Hangover” with $11 million. Both “Star Trek” and “Terminator Salvation” dropped out of the top ten this weekend.