TRANSFORMERS: RECORD-BREAKING EARLY RELEASE CONTINUES
Alien robots transform several Philippine box office records

The movie TRANSFORMERS proved to be a box office juggernaut in its second week of release, staying at number one as families nationwide enjoyed the story of the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons battling each other on Planet Earth.

The Philippines, which was one of only a few countries releasing on June 28 ahead of the U.S., garnered P128.5 million in its opening week.

The film’s box office gross – now surpassing P200 million – represent the top results in history for UIP Philippines, its local distribution partner Solar Entertainment, and the films of Paramount, DreamWorks, Michael Bay, and Steven Spielberg.

TRANSFORMERS also garnered the top non-franchise-film Friday, Saturday, and Sunday grosses in Philippine history.

In the U.S., TRANSFORMERS grossed $27.45m for the biggest 4^th of July Independence Day haul of all time, beating out former record-holder Spider-Man 2 ($21.9m in 2004).

The domestic success of TRANSFORMERS came on the heels of stunning international launches last weekend which set a wealth of records for international distributor UIP, studios Paramount and DreamWorks, director Michael Bay, and executive producer Steven Spielberg.

Local execs were delighted with results. “A big factor of our success was the incredible support of Filipino fans, especially the Cybertron Philippines group (http://www.cybph.com),” said UIP general manager Selina Gecolea (formerly de Venecia). “Young moviegoers in particular watched the film several times, and women and mothers like myself enjoyed the film immensely. TRANSFORMERS was definitely not just a toy movie for boys.”

Wilson Tieng, president of Solar Entertainment, UIP’s sole distribution licensee in the Philippines, added, “We want to thank exhibitors everywhere for the stellar results, and for helping our security agency ICT catch and prevent many incidents of camcording.”

Nine perpetrators were caught making unauthorized recordings, capturing portions of the film on various recording devices, starting from the film’s premiere on June 27, through the opening weekend. All incidents were recorded in police blotters, although charges were held in abeyance to give perpetrators a chance to apologize for their unauthorized recordings of the film.

Movie Industry Anti-Film Piracy Organization president Engr. Roesholm Camaligan lauded Solar-UIP’s creative way of dealing with perpetrators: letters of apology which had to be signed by the perpetrators’ immediate family, spiritual advisor, school dean or employer, and the theater manager where the perpetrator was caught. Said Mr. Camaligan, “This proved to be a far more effective way of ensuring that the person would not do it again. The public needs a reminder that bringing recording devices into theaters is strictly prohibited.”

Atty. Geronimo Sy, State Prosecutor of the Department of Justice, added, “In the face of modern technology, we should continue to be aware that the rule of law applies with equal force in the business of entertainment and take responsibility for our actions.”

ThunderBreak and I met with ineedacoolname earlier and she has these The Transformers Movie milestones.

4 day sales (from June 28 to July 1) = Php103.8 M

This translates to the Philippines’ #1 Opening Day and #1 Opening Weekend in history for the ff:
a) Paramount/Dreamworks
b) Steven Spielberg
c) Michael Bay
d) United International Pictures

The Philippines’ #8 biggest opening day in history

Philippines records:
- 5th highest opening weekend in history
- 4th highest Thursday to Sunday period in history
- 4th hghest Friday and Saturday in history
- 3rd highest Sunday in history
- Highest non-Franchise Friday, Saturday and Sunday in history
- 2007 Biggest non-holiday opening day
- 2007 second biggest opening day

…We’re sure The Transformers Movie will set more records… early buzz already says that The Transformers Movie will be a runaway winner for movie of the year.

Come 1PM of day 1, everyone gathered around the stage area for some fun and games provided by the guys from Cybertron Philippines. Prizes courtesy of our sponsors Solar-UIP, Shangri La Mall, Growee, KidzStation and Powerbooks livened up the event for everyone. Transformers posters, transforming pens, toys, gift certificates, growee and powerbooks giftpacks were enough to populate the fountain area with rabid Transformers fans.

Transforming contests, stop-dance competitions, trivia games, transformers matching games and growee theme song rendition contests ran for four hours during the event, along with the occasional Bring Me that kept everyone on their toes.

More »

Part 2 of our Transformers Cybercon Coverage commences as we pick up from where our Robot-clad friends from Cosplay PH as well as CybPH’s very own award winning cosplayers Brawn and Bumblebee left off. Now we go the display area where 20 large cabinets filled with toys and other collectibles are housed for everyone’s viewing pleasure. What a sight to see.

A more expounded Timelines display has been concocted by the members of Cybertron Philippines to fill up 14 cabinets to their full. From the Diaclones to an elaborate Generation 1, a jungle diorama for Beast Wars and Beast Machines, RID, The Unicron Trilogy, and of course the Movie based toys, every fan of every series was more than contented with what they saw. Binaltechs, Alternators, Masterpieces, Classics and other collectibles provided the tail-end of the cabinets with much flare, while busts, statues, convention exclusives including a prop replica of the Matrix of Leadership added more class. Definitely the biggest display that CybPh has done. But that’s just 14 cabinets…

More »

As with any Filipino Transformers fan, the thought of having our very own TF convention was just a dream, until Cybertron Philippines decided to take on that challenge. I guess the dream has come to a reality, and we are proud to have hosted the Transformers Cybercon 2007 at the Shangri La Mall fountain area last June 23-24, 2007.

[Day 1]

More »

Close up pics of the MP3 Soundwave as well as the Rumble and Frenzy Earphones. Took these shots during my trip at the Tokyo International Toy Fair.