'Transformers One' Box Office: Animated Film Aims for $35 Million Debut

Will Optimus Prime and Megatron be able to scare off the Ghost With the Most?

Paramount’s animated “ Transformers One ,” an origin story about the feuding Autobots and Decepticons, is targeting $30 million to $40 million in its opening weekend. Based on those projections, it’ll easily dethrone the two-time champion, “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.” The spooky Warner Bros. sequel is looking to add roughly $25 million in its third weekend of release. “Beetlejuice 2” has grossed $188 million domestically and $264 million globally to date.

“Toy Story 4” director Josh Cooley helmed “Transformers One,” which cost $75 million and features the ensemble voice cast of Chris Hemsworth (as Optimus Prime), Brian Tyree Henry (as Megatron), as well as Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne and Jon Hamm. It is the franchise’s first theatrical animated film since 1986’s “The Transformers: The Movie.” That film was a box office disappointment, though its reputation among fans has improved over the years. “Transformers One” has been favorably reviewed and holds a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes. Variety’s Todd Gilchrist described the movie as a “fun but refreshingly sophisticated retelling of the events that made enemies of Optimus Prime and Megatron.”

This weekend’s other newcomer is Lionsgate’s “Never Let Go,” a survival thriller starring Halle Berry. It’s aiming for $4 million to $6 million from 2,600 locations in its debut. If those estimates hold, “Never Let Go” will be the latest single-digit start for Lionsgate after last weekend’s assassin thriller “The Killer’s Game,” which misfired with $2.6 million in its debut.

Directed by Alexandre Aja (“Piranha 3D”), “Never Let Go” follows a mother and twin boys who are tormented by an evil spirit. When one of her sons begins to doubt the existence of the malicious presence, the family’s bond is broken and it’s every person for themselves. Reviews have been mixed, with Variety’s Courtney Howard writing “Though not all of its clever ideas come together efficiently in the finale, its thematic ruminations on grief, sanity, rebellion and redemption are intrinsically intertwined to harrowing, claustrophobic effect, heightening the hallucinatory horrors and dread-soaked atmospheric pull.”