Makes $8.8 Million in Previews Transformers Rise of the Beasts’ 

 

At the box office, The Autobots are back in full force.

“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” picked up $8.8 million at the domestic box office in Thursday previews. It’s revving up to battle last week’s No. 1 movie, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” in its opening weekend.

Paramount’s “Rise of the Beasts” is looking to bring in $50 million to $60 million this weekend, but its box office wheels may get caught in the web of “Across the Spider-Verse,” which is aiming for $45 million to $55 million in its sophomore outing. Last week, Sony’s Spidey sequel opened with a massive $120 million.

The seventh entry in the long-running “Transformers” series, “Rise of the Beasts” is attempting to bounce back after the previous entry, the rebooted “Bumblebee” movie in 2018. On  Thursday $2.85 million was earned by Hailee Steinfeld-led by film previews on its way to a franchise-low $21.6 million opening.  Before that, 2017’s “Transformers: The Last Knight” had $8.1 million in previews and a $44.68 million opening weekend. The fact that “Rise of the Beasts” earned higher previews bodes well for it to reverse the course of the franchise.

On  Thursday $2.85 million was earned by Hailee Steinfeld-led by film previews on its way to a franchise-low $21.6 million opening.

“Hamilton” and “In the Heights” star Anthony Ramos guides the cast of “Rise of the Beasts” along with Dominique Fishback, who of a film in Prime Video’s TV series “Swarm” earlier this year. The new movie introduces the Maximals and Terrorcons, two ancient factions of Transformers that can turn into robotic animals. Fan-favorite Autobots Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen) and Bumblebee are joined by newcomers Mirage (Pete Davidson), Optimus Primal (Ron Perlman), Airazor (Michelle Yeoh), Arcee (Liza Koshy), and more to defeat the evil Terrorcons, led by Peter Dinklage’s Scourge.