Paramount/Hasbro Entertainment’s “Transformers One” looks to maintain its September box office momentum, earning $3.36 million from Thursday’s preview as it expands to 3,978 domestic locations today.
That result is down slightly from the $3.8 million preview for “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” which opened in August 2023, to $28 million. But it tops the $1.75 million preview for Paramount’s family film IF, which opened last May to $33 million. Transformers One is expected to fare slightly better with a $30 million-$34 million opening.
The film’s reviews have been solid, with an 85% score on Rotten Tomatoes, second only to Bumblebee’s highest score in 2018 for a Transformers movie. Paramount hopes such chatter will draw in casual fans of the franchise over the next few weeks, even with competition from DreamWorks’ “Wild Robot” next week.
Elsewhere, Mubi’s “Substance” opened on both Wednesday and Thursday and grossed around $839,000 in two days. The body horror comedy, starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, received rave reviews during its screenings in Cannes and Toronto and is projected to open with $3 million from 1,949 locations.
