The early estimates are in and Transformers: Age of Extinction is clearly an international success with a worldwide
first weekend take of $301.3 million despite near universal dislike of the film by critics. The movie just hit its $100 million goal in the United States, the first movie to do that in 2014. The movie's foreign total was $201.3 which includes a record breaking $90 million bow from China that is likely to trigger more "cooperation agreements" between the Chinese government and Hollywood (so get ready for even more ham-fisted commercial "breaks" in the movies). In Russia it had a $21.7 million debut (2nd of all time for that country) and in South Korea it had its largest opening of the year at $21.5 million. Net result is the movie is currently 35% ahead of Dark of the Moon so it is on target to cross the $1 billion threshold. I expect TF4 to take a 50+% nosedive in the States but that is normal after such a large opening. The real attention remains on foreign gross as that will determine if that $1 billion threshold is crossed.
