Box office: ‘Transformers’ leads a tepid Fourth of July

Hey, baby, it was the Fourth of July, to slightly paraphrase the refrain of the classic Independence Day rock song that Dave Alvin set in Los Angeles.

And for most of the American public, it was a day to do other things than sit in a darkened cinema.

With no big attractions launching this weekend, “Transformers: Age of Extinction” continued to hold the No. 1 spot in the box-office rankings — as it has each day since its opening the previous Friday. It pulled in $10.6 million to lead the field on the Glorious Fourth, accounting for nearly one-third of the $33.5 million in tickets sold by the top 10 attractions as a whole. The day’s take raised “Transformers’” total box office to $148.9 million.

The most recent Friday for which a fair comparison can be made was June 20, which similarly lacked any big film beginning its opening weekend — with “big” defined as a film that went on to earn at least $100 million.

On June 20, the top 10 pulled in an estimated $46.8 million, led by “Think Like a Man Too,” which was having its opening night and came in No. 1 for the day with earnings of $12.2 million

The Fourth of July was, in fact, the seventh worst Friday this year for box office grosses. Five of the six Fridays below it came during the winter, when many Americans presumably weren’t interested in braving the elements to make a trip to the multiplex.

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