While it did not go over the $100 million mark, “Transformers: Age of Extinction” reached that milestone in its successful effort to dominate the weekend box office race and score the biggest opening weekend haul of 2014.
Listed at $100.0 million on the dot in the latest box office estimates, the “Transformers” total eclipses the $95.0 million earned by “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” to rank as the year’s biggest opening weekend gross.
The comparison is not apples-to-apples due to the predecessor’s mid-week opening, but the “Age of Extinction” gross also bests the $97.9 million earned by “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” in its debut 2011 weekend.
With no new competition in the mix, “22 Jump Street” was able to claim second place at the box office. It earned $15.4 million to improve its cumulative gross to $139.8 million.
“How to Train Your Dragon 2” took third with $13.1 million, while “Think Like a Man Too” ($10.4 million) and “Maleficent” ($8.2 million) completed the top five.
For “Think Like a Man Too,” this weekend’s gross represents a 64% drop from last weekend’s already-underwhelming performance. With $48.2 million in cumulative receipts, it is now pacing distantly behind that of predecessor “Think Like a Man,” which had earned $60.5 million after its second weekend.
