‘Transformers’ shape up with year’s best weekend

'Transformers' shape up with year's best weekend

The movie easily beats “Pirates of the Caribbean” for the best debut of the year.

“Transformers” robots have lost some of their money-making power but still have delivered the biggest opening weekend domestically so far this year.

Distributor Paramount Pictures said Sunday that “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” took in $97.4 million domestically in its first weekend. That beat the $90.2 million debut of Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.”

But the domestic haul for the sci-fi sequel was down from the $127.9 million first weekend for 2009’s “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.”

Since opening Tuesday night, the new “Transformers” pulled in $162 million through Sunday, a drop from $200.1 million for “Revenge of the Fallen” in its first five days.

Paramount estimates “Dark of the Moon” will hit $180.9 million domestically by the end of the long Fourth of July weekend Monday.

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