This was a good weekend for the Hollywood studios, ever-vigilant stewards of the loudest US export after arms shipments. As cinematic tub-thumping goes, the Independence Day holiday weekend is a highly visible platform from which the studios can fire their patriotic cannons and declare to filmgoers across the nation, "Hey the economy may still suck and Tiger isn't winning at golf any more, but it's OK – Shia will save you."
Mr LaBeouf is the winsome human face of the Transformers franchise, helmed by Michael Bay. They used to call Will Smith Mr Fourth of July, but now that Smith has taken his megastar wattage off to a distant pocket of deep space to revive some ailing galaxy, it's up to Bay to thrill US audiences over the 4 July weekend. Smith, who has kept a low profile of late and will next be seen in Columbia's May 2012 release of Men in Black III, was fantastic at getting bums on seats over this holiday weekend, but Bay is no slouch, either. His first two Transformers movies opened on or around the 4 July holiday. His latest – Transformers: Dark of the Moon – one has just rewritten the record books.
It seems US multiplex audiences have an insatiable appetite for exploding buildings and massive robots that like to atomise whatever else is still standing after the buildings have exploded. Dark of the Moon certainly exploded at the box office. Its $97.5m haul from Friday to Sunday set a new Independence Day weekend record. That figure climbs to $116.4m when the weekend includes Monday. Factor in the grosses since the movie opened for previews last Tuesday night and you've got a domestic total of $181.1m. Add in the $217.9m overseas and Paramount has brought in $399m.
Not bad for less than a week's work, even though the movie cost around $195m (£60.5m) to make and who-knows-how-much more for marketing – let's be conservative and say $80m, because those publicity tours and world premieres in Russia don't come cheap. Transformers 3 had to perform and it did. Indeed, the marketing people took to their task with such ferocity that your average moviegoer could be forgiven for thinking Shia and the robots were the only show in town. The bad news about all this is there will almost certainly be a sequel, though Shia will be absent.
Speaking of eternal franchises, Disney's fourth Pirates of the Caribbean pic, On Stranger Tides, crossed $1bn at the global box office last week. Only six other movies have done this, so regardless of the movie's almost total lack of charm, originality or winning performances, it is a remarkable effort. This would be a good time for Jerry Bruckheimer's swashbuckling behemoth to survey all before it, recognise it's dominance and sail off into the sunset. That sounds like a happy ending to me.
You may agree with me that the conflict that gave Independence Day its name is ancient history and nobody cares about history when there are sausages to grill. I'd argue that it's high time to change the name. In movie terms, Independence Day is a misnomer because independent cinema is generally overlooked at this time. They should call it Another Movie Tentpole Smash weekend instead. That said, there are two independent movies in the current top 10 and both are doing well, albeit on a much more modest scale.
The reunion of Tom Hanks and his Charlie Wilson's War co-star Julia Roberts for Larry Crowne was hailed as an event in some circles. Well, in the circles that made the movie; the other circles were too busy watching Transformers. However the rom-com opened in fourth place on $15.7m. It was a solid launch, given that the movie cost Vendome Pictures and Playtone Productions (of which Hanks is a partner) roughly $30m to make. Larry Crowne will do well on TV, DVD and video on demand, etc, and it's also been licensed to leading independent international distributors.
The other indie is Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, which after seven weekends in release stands at $34.5m and is comfortably his biggest hit since Hannah and her Sisters back in February 1986. Back then Shia LaBeouf wasn't born, people had still forgotten about the US war of independence and it would be two more years before we'd see Tom Hanks in Big and Julia Roberts in Mystic Pizza. Hats off to Allen – a historic franchise in-and-of himself.
North American top 10, 1-4 July 2011
1. Transformers: Dark of the Moon, $116.4m. Total: $181.1m.
2. Cars 2, $32.1m. Total: $123m
3. Bad Teacher, $17.6m. Total: $63m
4. Larry Crowne, $15.7m
5. Super 8, $9.5m. Total: $110.1m
6. Monte Carlo, $8.8m
7. Green Lantern, $7.9m. Total: $103.7m
8. Mr Popper's Penguins, $6.9m. Total: $51.9m
9. Bridesmaids, $4.2m. Total: $153.8m
10. Midnight in Paris, $4.3m. Total: $34.5m
