HOLLYWOOD

Transformers Scores Monster Opening

Biggest international box office hit this year.

Who knew shape-shifting robots were so universal? Director Michael Bay’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, starring Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox, rocked the U.S. box office this weekend with $112 million—its next closest competitor was The Proposal, with a puny $18.5 million—but it also dominated foreign box offices, finishing first in all international markets. The poorly reviewed film brought in a staggering $162 million from foreign screens, for an overseas total of $181.6 million. The movie’s global gross is now $363.2 million. Despite the eye-popping figures, however, it failed to land a record for a foreign box office launch: Finishing before it internationally are the 2007 hits Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End and Spider-Man 3, and 2006’s Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.