BOX OFFICE REPORT: TRANSFORMERS MAKES 2014 $100M BARRIER EXTINCT... OR DOES IT?

This hasn't emerged from a major studio since Minority Report in 2002: Paramount is under fire for apparently manipulating the opening weekend figures for its major summer blockbuster, and first place opener Transformers: Age of Extinction. Either way, it's the biggest opening of the year at the US box office, and enormous international figures have confirmed this franchise reinvigoration as a serious presence in the current movie marketplace. Wide releases were restricted solely to the shape-shifting behemoths, while limited ones were in much higher numbers.

1. Transformers: Age of Extinction ($100,038,390... or is it $97.76m?)

No matter how it's put, this is not only the weekend's highest gross, but the highest weekend gross of the year yet. But Paramount and (all) other sources disagree on the exact figure: the studio's figure is a pretty precise $100,038,390, while normally reliable Rentrak estimates put the action sequel at $97.76 million. Word is that Paramount's report would have required the few theatres not covered by Rentrak to have posted grosses over three times the national per-theatre average; those in the know posit that the figure might have been inflated by Paramount for fear of forced redundancies if Age of Extinction failed to reach $100 million, a number which no other film this year has yet claimed in its first three days, and in a summer that looks unlikely to yield any other $100m weekend grossers. Overseas, it appears to have scored the biggest opening of all time in China, and has amassed enormous worldwide totals to date despite only having opened in a very small few major markets.

2. 22 Jump Street ($15,842,375)

3. How to Train Your Dragon 2 ($13,237,697)

4. Think Like a Man Too ($10,316,397)

5. Maleficent ($8,376,674)

6. Jersey Boys ($7,712,264)

7. Edge of Tomorrow ($5,404,290)

8. The Fault in Our Stars ($5,130,777)

9. X-Men: Days of Future Past ($3,321,427)

10. Chef ($1,657,391)

17. The Villain ($414,116)

26. Snowpiercer ($171,187)

No matter in what capacity TWC released Snowpiercer, it was always gonna be a niche product. In eight theatres, this isn't a bad haul. Expect a moderate expansion

31. Begin Again ($134,064)

Expect a rather larger expansion for this, though its per-theatre average (the highest of the weekend) is only a little over $3k more than Transformers', and Begin Again is showing in less than one 855th as many theatres.

39. The Breakup Guru ($62,717)

42. America ($38,608)

How on earth Lionsgate considered Dinesh D'Souza worthy of their financing I'll never understand. This won't make a fraction of 2016: Obama's America's shameful haul.

50. Yves Saint Laurent ($24,207)

The first of the year's two middlingly-reviewed YSL biopics pulls in a smart amount of cash on opening weekend, though nothing spectacular.

56. The Internet's Own Boy ($21,705)

63. Whitey: United States of America v. James J. Bulger ($14,207)

Arthouse audiences don't seem terribly interested in what Joe Berlinger has to offer outside of the Paradise Lost films. His highest grosser remains Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2. That's Hollywood!

67. Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed ($11,600)

78. Radio Free Albemuth ($5,553)

82. Siddharth ($4,564)

87. Nothing Bad Can Happen ($2,853)

A measly amount for a film that ought to have been able to secure a solid underground audience. DraftHouse is still finding its feet as a midnight movie distributor.

95. Postman Pat: The Movie ($1,254)

Guaranteed, twenty years ago, my sister would have doubled this gross alone. Well, my parents would have.

101. Jackpot ($806)

Oh, the irony...