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Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen earned a whopping $60,628,141 on Wednesday and including midnight sneaks. This slots it ahead of Spider-Man 3's $59,841,919 as the second biggest day of box office ever as well as easily the biggest Wednesday of box office ever and the biggest weekday of box office ever. The only single day of revenue that was better was The Dark Knight's $67,165,092 on July 18, 2008, its first day in theaters. Everyone had guessed that Transformers 2 was heading for a blockbuster tally like this after it debuted to $16 million in sneaks, the third best total ever behind The Dark Knight's $18.5 million and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith's $16.9 million.

What's impressive here is that while Sith burned out quickly with a relatively modest $50,013,859, representing a $33.1 million day without sneaks, Transformers 2 held very strong throughout the day. Not including sneaks, we are still discussing a $44.6 million rest of the day, which would be good enough for the all-time top ten of single box office days on its own. Consider that the total for The Dark Knight, not including midnight sneaks, is just under $48.7 million. This fact alone tells you the type of company being kept. Of course, there is an ever so slight difference in the critical reception of the two titles that will prevent Transformers 2 from reaching the $500 million threshold. Even so, by any measurement currently used to gauge box office, the first 24 hours of this film has been dynamic.

In 2007, BOP documented the $36 million in 36 hours phenomenon for the first Transformers live action film. Given the unusual release pattern of the first film, this was considered a box office triumph as was the $155.4 million the title earned from Monday night to Sunday of its first week. Revenge of the Fallen is openly scoffing at such minuscule results. Its 24 hour total almost matches the first two and a half days of its predecessor, which was $65,725,939. BOP's Reagen Sulewski had forecasted a five-day total of $165 million for Revenge of the Fallen. Based on the initial results, he is if anything low with his ambitious expectations. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen appears likely bordering on certain to surpass Spider-Man 2's current five-day Wednesday opener record tally of $152.4 million. It also has a chance to match The Dark Knight's record of needing only two days to reach $100 million, but I think that's probably not going to happen. The fascinating aspect of this release is what happens next as we follow the story of whether mainstream consumers continue to ignore lackluster word-of-mouth and borderline vicious reviews. Keep checking back at BOP for further updates on the biggest hit of the year to date.