Transformers 2 "Most Movie Mistakes of 2009"

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was recently crowned the top movie of the year worldwide and in the US but it also has a more notorious "award" according to MovieMistakes.com. Currently it is considered the most error prone movie of the year with more than 40 mistakes. Some of them seem to be nitpicks but the second closest movie is Angels & Demons with 19 mistakes so even if half of them removed Transformers 2 will retain the title of most movie mistakes (so far) for 2009. To read the full list, click here (via Seibertron)

The Doctor and Superion Video Review

Peaugh has posted two more video reviews of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen toys. The first one is Scout class Scalpel, aka The Doctor that turns from microscope to spider-thing. The other is Superion which is the Transformers: Energon toy with a new paint job and packaging. There is a reason the classic combiners remain a favorite for many as Hasbro has not quite figured out how to re-crack that nut as their combiner attempts have been weak.

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Transformers ROTF Officially Top Movie of Year

Wth the Sunday estimates indicating a horse race for weekend box office king with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, the estimates are enough to officially crown the movie "Number One Movie in the World" 2009 due to its domestic and worldwide totals, as the official website is happy to brag about (thanks NHLfan).

However, the Sunday night "we are number 1" from the studios will have to wait as the estimates continue to indicate a too close to call race for US weekend box office king with both three-day totals at an estimated $42.5 million. Currently Ice Age is estimated to take in $14.3 million to Transformers 2 $14 million, causing the tie. For the five-day opening (Wednesday to Sunday), Ice Age will probably claim the win with an estimated $67.5M to TF2's $64.9M and with international total of $148M has a five day worldwide total of $215 million, the most for a cartoon so plenty to crow about for the studio.

Internationally for Transformers 2 took it an estimated $55 million. The net result is Transformers 2 will probably cross the $600 million threshold tomorrow with a US total of around $292.8M, overseas total of 298.0M, for a worldwide total of $590.8 million. Hopefully the actuals tomorrow will solidify these numbers.

Box Office Totals (in millions)

Date	US	Intl	Worldwide
6/19-6/23	$0.0	$24.1	$24.1
6/24	$62.2	$60.0	$120.7
6/25	$29.1	$20.0	$48.6
6/26	$36.7
6/27	$40.2
6/28	$32.0	$86.2**
6/29	$14.8	$14.1	$28.9
6/30	$13.5	$16.8	$30.3
7/01	$11.0	$14.2	$25.2
7/02	$11.5*	$7.6*	$25.5
7/03	$17.8*
7/04	$10.0*
7/05	$14.0*	$55.0*,**
Totals	$292.8	$298.0	$590.8

*estimate of sales, **no day to day breakdown available

Transformers 2 vs Ice Age 3 Race Continues

The weekend estimates are in (yep they do that even with another full day to go) and it appears to be a pretty good weekend for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen but is expected to take an estimated 60% drop compared to last weekend. It could just be a blip because of the holiday weekend but not something Paramount wants to see occur every weekend. The drop is in part because its first weekend numbers were simply unsustainable, partly due to new competition in the form of Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Public Enemies (which did fine but non-started compared to TF2's numbers) and probably because word of mouth wasn't as strong as hoped.

Transformers 2 was already the top grossing movie worldwide but as of Friday July 3rd, it passed Up as the top grossing movie of the year in the US by taking in an estimated domestic gross $17.8 million for a US total of $268.7 million compared to Up's domestic gross of $261.0 million. Up's total took 36 days to achieve, Transformers 2 took only 10 days.

In addition it just eeked out a win for Friday versus Ice Age 3 with $17.8M to $17.0M. So far Transformers has been number one two out of the first three days of Ice Age's release.

As for Saturday and Sunday, both are expected to make an estimated $43 million for the three day weekend but exactly which will be crowned #1 at the box office is too close to call. Saturday numbers put Ice Age 3 back on top with an estimated take of $11.0 million to $10.0 million (for a 2-2 tie). As for Sunday, Transformers 2 is estimated at $15.2M to Ice Age's 3 $15.0 million but the day has barely started so consider those numbers just placeholders until more solid numbers come in by the late afternoon. I was unable to find any numbers for the international box office so that remains blank on the chart below.

Box Office Totals (in millions)

Date	US	Intl	Worldwide
6/19-6/23	$0.0	$24.1	$24.1
6/24	$62.2	$60.0	$120.7
6/25	$29.1	$20.0	$48.6
6/26	$36.7
6/27	$40.2
6/28	$32.0	$86.2**
6/29	$14.8	$14.1	$28.9
6/30	$13.5	$16.8	$30.3
7/01	$11.0	$14.2	$25.2
7/02	$11.5*	$14.0*	$25.5
7/03	$17.8*		$17.8
7/04	$10.0*		$10.0
7/05	$15.2*		$15.2
Totals	$293.9	$249.4	$543.3

*estimate of sales, **no day to day breakdown available

Transformers 2 Blu-ray/DVD Release on October 24th?

Blu-ray.com has a listing for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen that seems to indicate an October 24th release date for the Blu-ray and DVD disc release of the movie. This has not been officially confirmed by Paramount but the first movie was released on October 16th, 2007 so there is precedent for the quick turnaround. Thanks to Mauricio for the link.

Optimus Prime on Letterman?

I was watching the Boston 4th of July celebration and there was a commercial for the Late Show with David Letterman saying that Optimus Prime will be reading off the Top 10 list Monday night. I am not sure if they mean some CGI thing with Prime (and probably using the first or second movies scenes) or if Peter Cullen is stopping by and reading the list in Prime's voice. I guess we will have to watch Monday night find out.

Transformers Nintendo DS Lite Case

Turns out there is a Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Bumblebee Nintendo DS Lite Armor case with stylus as found on Engadget (which has a contest for it) and thought it was goofy enough to post about. There is also a Megatron version. The cases look kind of cool but isn't the whole point of the Nintendo DS its portability and doesn't a rather large case with huge stylus defeat that purpose?

Bay vs Fox? No

For some reason a Wall Street Article from two weeks ago is gaining traction on various gossip sites about a supposed feud between Megan Fox and Michael Bay.

All that occured is Megan Fox told Entertainment Weekly:

I mean, I can't s--- on this movie because it did give me a career and open all these doors for me. But I don't want to blow smoke up people's a--. People are well aware that this is not a movie about acting."

Here is Bay's response (and my comments at the time):

It’s interesting that you want to focus on acting. Megan Fox, one of the leads in “Transformers” has criticized your films for being special-effects-driven and not offering so many acting opportunities. Do you agree?
Well, that’s Megan Fox for you. She says some very ridiculous things because she’s 23 years old and she still has a lot of growing to do. You roll your eyes when you see statements like that and think, “Okay Megan, you can do whatever you want. I got it.” But I 100% disagree with her. Nick Cage wasn’t a big actor when I cast him, nor was Ben Affleck before I put him in “Armageddon.” Shia LaBeouf wasn’t a big movie star before he did “Transformers”—and then he exploded. Not to mention Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, from “Bad Boys.” Nobody in the world knew about Megan Fox until I found her and put her in “Transformers.” I like to think that I’ve had some luck in building actors’ careers with my films.
(Bay didn't actually counter Fox's comments. He has an eye for talent and definitly builds careers but his movies are not studies in acting. - TFLive)

That is the extent of the feud. What do you expect Bay to say "Yeah she is right, my films require no acting skill whatsoever." Closer to the truth but part of his job is to sell himself and his films and that wouldn't help.

Box Office: Transformers 2 Tops Ice Age on Thursday

It appears this weekend is going to be a horse race between Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen if Thursday's box office is any indication. Transformers 2 took in another estimated $11.5 million to Ice Ages $11.1 bringing the movies' US gross $250.9M. Overseas the numbers are not but I estimate another $14 million. If that proves true, then Revenge will just cross over the $500 million threshold. No idea when final numbers will be released.

Box Office Totals (in millions)

Date	US	Intl	Worldwide
6/19-6/23	$0.0	$24.1	$24.1
6/24	$62.2	$60.0	$120.7
6/25	$29.1	$20.0	$48.6
6/26	$36.7
6/27	$40.2
6/28	$32.0	$86.2**
6/29	$14.8	$14.1	$28.9
6/30	$13.5	$16.8	$30.3
7/01	$11.0	$14.2	$25.2
7/02	$11.5*	$14.0*	$25.5
Totals	$250.9	$249.4	$500.3

*estimate of sales, **no day to day breakdown available

Supreme Devastator Video Review

Below is three part video review of Supreme class Devastator from the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen toy line done by frenzyrumble.com. This is the $100 version that goes from 6 construction vehicles to combined mode with no individual robot mode. Overall the combined mode looks good and the individual vehicles are fine but it just isn't doing it for me. Thanks to Yoboy for the links.

Transformers: ROTF Top Grossing Movie Worldwide

As of Wednesday, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen surpassed Angels & Demons as the top grossing movie of 2009 worldwide with a total worldwide total of $474.8 million to Angels $461.6 million. It still remains behind Up ($256.5M) and Star Trek ($256.5M) for the top rank domestically with a total of $239.4 million. Wednesday also marked the first time since its release that Transformers 2 was not ranked number 1. It took in a US box office of $11 million to Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs' first day gross of $13.8 million. This is an 82% drop in sales from last Wednesday but then anything close to that first day total of $62 million is unrealistic expectation.

International sales added an additional $14.2 million to the coffers. In general, it seems for a movie to reach monster status, it has to be equally popular internationally as it is in the states and in this case the breakdown stands at 50.4% of the total worldwide gross comes from the states and 49.6% everywhere else. That basically means for every dollar spent in the states, a dollar is being spent elsewhere. The net result is a doubling of expected profits since overseas sales is never a given but necessary if a film is to reach the $500M or more club that studios love to achieve. July the 4th is expected to cause the box office to take a hit but clearly overseas sales will mitigate the loss of momentum.

Box Office Totals (in millions)

Date	US	Intl	Worldwide
6/19-6/23	$0.0	$24.1	$24.1
6/24	$62.2	$60.0	$120.7
6/25	$29.1	$20.0	$48.6
6/26	$36.7
6/27	$40.2
6/28	$32.0	$86.2**
6/29	$14.8	$14.1	$28.9
6/30	$13.5	$16.8	$30.3
7/01	$11.0	$14.2	$25.2
Totals	$239.4	$235.4	$474.8

*estimate of sales, **no day to day breakdown available

Atlus Airmen in Transformers 2

Air Education and Training Command website writes about several airmen based at Altus Air Force Base in Oklahoma, USA that provided consulting services and flew aircraft for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Below is a portion of the article but the entire thing plus more pictures can be found here. Link found by Voiceroy.

Capt. Judd Baker, 58th Airlift Squadron, was one of the C-17 Globemaster III aircraft commanders during filming at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., and Holloman Air Force Base, N.M. Captain Baker said, a mission that started as ordinary quickly grew into something much greater.

Aircraft and Airmen from the 97th Air Mobility Wing appear prominently in the combat scenes of the film. Even when the aircraft and the aircrews are not on screen, the experience and expertise of Altus Airmen guided the action. Every time they would have something going on with the C-17s, it was, 'Would this be real? Would this be how you would do it? Is this how you say that or was this what you call that?,'" Captain Baker said. "And whatever we said, it was, 'Yep, change that in the script. That's what we'll say.'"

Staff Sgt. Christopher Worthy, 58th AS loadmaster, said the experience of being on a Hollywood set was far different from his usual duty day. "It's something I never thought I would get to do," he said. "Here, we fly the line, train the guys so they can go out and do the real world missions -- it's a unique experience to get the call and go do something other than train."

Perhaps the most excited viewers were the children who saw their dads on the big screen with some very big counterparts. When asked about his children's reaction, Captain Baker smiled. "They said, 'Hey, daddy was in a movie and got to meet Optimus Prime,'... I think that's fun," he said.

Peter Cullen, Stan Bush Interview

Below are two links from The Electric Playground of interviews with Peter Cullen (voice of Optimus Prime) and Stan Bush (singer, song writer of The Touch) that was record during Botcon 09 a few weeks ago. Cullen discusses the origin of his Prime voice and working on the cartoon series while Bush talks about the origin of his song and the impact it had when it was used in Transformers: The Movie. Thinks found by benzo.