BEIJING, July 4 (Xinhuanet) -- Looking to launch a
strong July 4th week, the sci-fi adventure film "Transformers" raked in a cool
8.8 million U.S. dollars from Monday night viewing in advance of its official
release Tuesday.
"It certainly looks like a great way to start," said
Marvin Levy, spokesman for DreamWorks, which released "Transformers" along with
fellow Viacom Inc. unit Paramount. "It's a case when you have robots like this,
they act like magnets to draw audiences into theaters."
"Transformers" is based on the Hasbro toys that
debuted in the 1980s and is directed by Michael Bay. It tells the story
of a war between two factions of giant shape-shifting robots that bring
their battle to Earth. The human cast costarring alongside the
computer-generated robots includes Shia LaBeouf, Tyrese Gibson, Jon Voight, Josh
Duhamel and John Turturro.
Monday's "Transformers" total was the third-best
recorded by a movie in similar preview screenings, behind May's "Pirates of the
Caribbean: At WorldĄŻs End" with 13.2 million dollars and 1996's "Independence
Day" with 11.1 million dollars, according to box-office tracker Media By
Numbers.
"Transformers" is positioned to join the ranks of
this summer's blockbusters, "At World's End," "Spider-Man 3" and "Shrek the
Third," all of which have surpassed or are about to cross the 300 million dollar
mark domestically.
(Agencies)
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