‘Transformers 4′ Opened with $100 Million in Sales Despite Critics and Fanboys’ Distaste
Read pretty much anything written about the film, and it’s easy to see that movie critics alike have not cozied up to Transformers: Age of Extinction. The movie received a 17% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a 32 (out of 100) score on Metacritic, and a slew of shade from cinema connoisseurs everywhere, including Richard Lawson’s (for the win) with:
“So, it’s been five years since the Battle of Chicago, from the third Transformers movie, and Shia LaBeouf’s character is nowhere to be seen. Instead we’ve got Mark Wahlberg, playing a robotics-obsessed inventor from rural Texas. And if there are two things everyone thinks of when they think of Mark Wahlberg, it’s “science” and “Texas,” so already this movie is off to a logical start.”
But what Transformers films do have (this one, the three before it, and the likely hundred that will proceed), is the support of unrelenting fanboys. So much so that, critics be damned, the film was able to rein in an estimated $100 million during its opening weekend. Add another $200 million (you read that right) and you’ve got the international sales included. This is easily the top movie debut of the year and a career high for the film’s star Mark Wahlberg.
Giving no care to the air, director Michael Bay recently spoke out about some of the franchise’s more critical fans saying, “They love to hate, and I don’t care. Let them hate. They’re still going to see the movie. I think it’s good to get a little tension. Very good.”
That Michael Bay, so sensitive.
Images courtesy of Collider and Paramount Pictures.
