Transformers: The Last Knight Nears $200 Million Overseas

CBR

By Geoff Miller

Published Jun 25, 2017

The franchise's fifth entry will need all the global help it can get following a series low turnout at the domestic box office.

Michael Bay's reign of loud, robotic destruction looks to be ending on a jarring whimper thanks to less-than-stellar returns as the domestic and foreign box office.

With news that Transformers: The Last Knight has now officially brought in $69.1 million stateside -- a franchise low at the domestic box office -- the film will need all the international help it can get in order to simply earn a profit. As of Sunday, the film's international haul sits at $196.2 million after rolling out in 41 markets worldwide, spearheaded by $123.4 million coming from China alone. The number marks a franchise high for the country, but other territories optioned to let the robots remain in disguise. The United Kingdom, Russia, Korea, Australia and Germany all saw a dip in revenue compared to the series' previous entry, Transformers: Age of Extinction, which went on to cash in the highest global return of any film in 2014.

“In the end, our business is global. The global number does matter, and this movie is built for global audiences," Megan Colligan, Paramount’s distribution president, stated. Colligan also remarked on the film's lack of national support, adding, “We certainly would have liked to see more come out of the domestic market."

Possessing an estimated production budget of $217 million (before marketing), the film's haul doesn't appear to be too damaging, but the production budget doesn't include The Last Knight's massive advertising campaign that coincides with an IP as popular as Transformers. The movie will look to make up the slack when it debuts in France next week, and openings slated in Mexico, Brazil, Japan and Spain begin taking place later this summer.

The lackluster intake will surely lead to a slew of conversations behind closed doors at Paramount, since the studio has no plans of returning their Autobots and Decepticons to the toy box any time soon, beginning with a solo Bumblebee film set for release in 2018.

In theaters now, Transformers: The Last Knight stars franchise veterans Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson and John Turturro, joined by newcomers Isabela Moner, Liam Garrigan, Jerrod Carmichael, Mitch Pileggi, Laura Haddock, Santago Cabrera and Anthony Hopkins.

(via Variety)