Top 12 Film Industry Stories of 2007: #3:
Michael Bay 'Transforms' '80s Toy Into Box Office G
By David Mumpower
December 31, 2007
BoxOfficeProphets.com

Michael Bay says we need more explosions!
Say what you will about Michael Bay. Sure, he is a overrated, overhyped, over-editing, overly HD-DVD hating, nonsense-spewing psychopath. He also happens to be a wildly commercial director. No matter how much of a garbage movie he spits out, audiences eat it up - unless it stars Scarlett Johansson and Ewan McGregor. This is why BOP tips its cap to Steven Spielberg for passing on the option to direct Transformers even though it would be his idea that Michael Bay would shoot. The reason why is simple. Spielberg is a methodical, patient director who slowly builds up a storyline over the arc of a film. With a toy-based property such as Transformers, nobody wants that. Instead, they want to see stuff blow up. They want thoughtless action. And when BOP thinks thoughtless (assuming such an act is possible), we think Michael Bay.

We knew Bay had gotten Transformers right from the moment we saw the teaser. It was perfect for mainstream audiences, perfectly bridging the gap between science and science fiction. A robot assigned the task of filming a section of landscape on Mars accidentally encountered a Decepticon with the end result being something along the lines of, "Stupid bug! You go squish now!" Rare is the movie teaser that electrifies the Internet in the way that this commercial did. Suddenly, all of the Hasbro lovers from the 1980s who went to sleep in Optimus Prime pajamas were made aware of the fact that the cartoon toys would be brought to life on the big screen, and the evidence was there that the movie would not suck.

By the time the full scale trailer was available for mass consumption, the Transformers watch had already reached a peak. The spots focused upon special effects that were truly special. A CGI-based Decepticon waged war in the desert against American soldiers and every moment it emerged from beneath the sand to attack again, people were stupefied by its realism. This feat speaks to the talents of the true heroes of Transformers, the computer programmers who showed particular loving care in ensuring that the toys from their youth came to life on camera. In an era when consumers are long past the point of saturation with regards to CGI, these code geeks somehow managed to create a fresh look for the menacing invaders from Cybertron.

When Transformers was released into theaters, fanboy expectations had risen to a fever pitch. Despite the extreme level of competition over the summer, this was a title that always stood out on the schedule as noteworthy to our staff. Even we underestimated its box office appeal, though. The Michael Bay production had exhibitions beginning at 8 p.m. on Monday, July 2nd. Even though it had only a couple of possible pre-midnight showings available on that day, the title still managed to earn more than any other production in release, edging Ratatouille by a total of $8.8 million to $7.6 million.

The pre-midnight screenings barely scratched the surface of what Transformers would do on its first full day of release. It earned $27.8 million over the next 24 hours, allowing its distributor, Paramount to trumpet the accomplishment of earning $36 million in its first 36 hours. At that pace, it would have surpassed Titanic at the start of day 25, but it did not quite hold up that appeal over the long haul, of course.

The early week debut of Transformers artificially deflated its opening weekend performance somewhat, but it still managed $70.5 million over three days. What was perhaps most impressive is that after a mere 5+ days in release, the production had already grossed $150.4 million. It was a bona fide smash, already one of the biggest selling titles of the summer before it was even a full week in. That hot streak would continue as the title demonstrated better legs than actions film have shown in recent years as a rule. Bay's most ambitious work earned $319.1 million in domestic receipts, making it the third most popular of the summer but also the third most successful release of 2007. It is currently the 19th biggest movie of all time in this regard.

The success of the title translated overseas as well. Transformers earned $385.1 overseas, making it the sixth most popular release of the year in terms of foreign revenue. Overall, Transformers is the fifth largest money-making production of 2007 with a grand total of $704.2 million, the 28th best performance of all time. What makes Transformers particularly notable, however, is that the four films that surpasses it in terms of worldwide revenue are all sequels. Those titles are Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (the biggest worldwide earner with $958.4 million), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ($937.0 million), Spider-Man 3 ($885.4 million), and Shrek the Third ($791.4 million). The closest new production to Transformers in terms of worldwide receipts was Ratatouille with $615.9 million, but even that title was marketed as a de facto sequel to prior Pixar releases.

Transformers was the only truly new movie franchise of 2007 to break out to an epic degree. It was successful in terms of domestic box office as well as abroad. It currently stands as one of the 20 biggest box office hits of all time in North America and is one of the 30 biggest worldwide hits. A series of sequels are already planned with Bay lined up to direct once again. It has also become the biggest selling HD-DVD of all time as well as the single best performing next-gen DVD for either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD. While this news is a bitter pill for Bay himself to swallow – his bilious rants about DreamWorks' new owner, Paramount, selling out to Microsoft and Toshiba have become legendary – it demonstrates that consumers believe that the special effects in Transformers are so good that they are best enjoyed through high definition television. Of course, this did not stop folks with regular DVD players from buying up as many copies as they could. Transformers currently holds a slight lead over Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End as the fastest selling DVD of the year as well as the best selling title of the fourth quarter.

Transformers, the movie adaptation stemming from a silly cartoon designed to sell Hasbro toys in the 1980s, has become one of the most financially successful titles of the decade in every capacity possible. For a new movie license to perform in such dramatic fashion is rare. It is perhaps the most impressive tentpole revenue performance since Mel Gibson's work with The Passion of the Christ in 2004. At a minimum, it's 1A to Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.