Box-office heavy hitters poised for strong weekend

By Gregg Kilday

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "Transformers" triggered box-office fireworks during the Fourth of July holiday, "Ratatouille" successfully competed against family barbecues, and "Live Free or Die Hard" continued to wave its flag.

With no new wide releases scheduled to open on Friday, the weekend dynamics already are in gear, with the three dominant holiday players on track to extend their winning streaks.

On the Fourth, "Transformers," a DreamWorks/Paramount Pictures co-production, solidified its standing with an estimated $29.1 million gross for the day in 4,011 theaters.

The PG-13 demolition derby, directed by Michael Bay, roared out of the gate Monday with 8 p.m. screenings and grossed $8.8 million. On Tuesday, it pulled in $27.9 million and jumped another 4.3 percent on Wednesday. The domestic cume for "Transformers" now stands at an estimated $65.7 million.

Paramount, which is releasing the film, trumpeted the fact that "Transformers" racked up the biggest July 4 single-day gross in box-office history, beating the $21.95 million that "Spider-Man 2" claimed in 2004.

"Typically, when the Fourth falls on a Wednesday, business goes down," DreamWorks spokesman Marvin Levy said. "So the fact that it went up is a tremendous surprise to all of us. Certainly, it was a record-breaking Fourth of July."

COOKING UP BUSINESS

Buena Vista Pictures' release of Pixar Animation Studios' "Ratatouille," the G-rated toon directed by Brad Bird and set in a Parisian kitchen, built momentum of its own during the holiday.

The movie bowed the weekend of June 29 in first place with $47 million -- a low number for a Pixar title (last summer's "Cars" arrived to $60.1 million, and Bird's previous film, "The Incredibles," debuted at $70.5 million) -- but "Ratatouille" now appears to be picking up ground.

On Monday, it grossed $7.5 million, the best Monday performance ever for a Pixar movie, outdistancing the $6.95 million that "Finding Nemo" took in on its best Monday. On Tuesday, the food-intoxicated film collected $7.85 million, beating "Nemo's" best Tuesday number of $7.18 million. "Ratatouille" also registered a jump Wednesday and pulled in $10.2 million for the day, the best Wednesday performance for a Pixar movie, supplanting "Toy Story 2's" $9.5 million. As of Wednesday, the critically applauded film had collected an estimated $72.6 million.

After six days, "Ratatouille" was just a shade below the six-day, $73.3 million gross of "Monsters, Inc." and was chasing the six-day, $78 million gross of "Cars."

"When you go in the summer, the proportion of business that comes from weekend business changes," Buena Vista president of distribution Chuck Viane said. "In the fall, 70 percent of the total week's business comes out of the weekend, but in the summer, the weekend accounts for 55 percent to 60 percent of the week's business, with the rest moving to weekdays."

20th Century Fox's "Die Hard" also contributed to the holiday's explosion. The PG-13 actioner -- which opened June 27 -- rolled along, taking in an estimated $4.5 million Tuesday and an estimated $6.1 million Wednesday, bringing its estimated cume to more than $63 million.

NO ALTAR FOR 'WED'

Warner Bros. Pictures' romantic comedy "License to Wed" is heading into the weekend as an also-ran. The PG comedy directed by Ken Kwapis, in which Robin Williams plays a reverend who offers offbeat marital counseling to Mandy Moore and John Krasinski, was positioned as counterprogramming to attract female audiences. But it ran headlong into a slew of withering reviews and has grossed an estimated $5.2 million in 2,401 theaters since opening Tuesday.