Despite it being the first 3D Michael Bay film (and the last in his Transformers trilogy), Transformers: Dark of the Moon failed to top the opening day numbers of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen on Wednesday, grossing $37.3 million ($42.8 million when you count midnight screenings). To compare, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen grossed $62 million in its Wednesday debut, and it currently sits in the number two all-time Wednesday opening slot behind The Twilight Saga: Eclipse ($68 million). Still, though, Dark of the Moon's opening is enough to give it the highest opening day of the year, beating out Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides ($34 million on a Friday, including midnight shows).
Here are some other important figures for you box office nuts:
-- Percentage of gross attributed to 3D: 60%
-- Number of screens/locations: 10,000 at 4,011 locations
-- Number attributed to IMAX showings: $3.3 million at 146 domestic theaters
-- Second biggest midnight opening of 2011 behind The Hangover 2 ($10.4 million in midnight shows)
-- The first Transformers opened to $27.9 million on a Tuesday in 2007
-- Dark of the Moon's opening day numbers put it at number 6 on the all-time single day grosses list behind Spider-Man 2 (5), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (4), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (3), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2) and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (1). Note: Revenge of the Fallen wound up out-grossing all of them.
-- Dark of the Moon's projected 7-day total: $200 million
-- Revenge of the Fallen's entire domestic gross: $402.1 million
[stats via Deadline and Box Office Mojo]