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Reagen Sulewski: I think this is one of those cases where it's very easy to overanalyze what went on. People asked for robots beating the crap out of each other and Megan Fox not wearing much clothing, and Michael Bay gave it to them. I will say that the policy of movie theatres to spit in the face of everyone that bought a ticket for something other than Transformers was pretty effective.

Jason Lee: In addition to everything that's been mentioned, which I agree with for the most part, I think that the relative "underwhelming" quality of the summer blockbuster season left many moviegoers starved for an event picture. Star Trek was huge, Up is a great win for Pixar, Hangover was a nice surprise . . . but we haven't had anything Spider-Man / Sith / Dark Knight / Indiana Jones sized all summer. I think a lot of summer movie fans have been waiting for something to get really excited about.

Sean Collier: That's the last straw, I'm moving to Ireland. If anyone needs me, I'll be at the pub.

David Mumpower: We also should go back to the premise that the quality/reception of the previous film buys the opening weekend of its successor. Transformers was generally well received as demonstrated by its spectacular success on the home video market. It has earned almost $300 million in that release phase in addition to the $700+ million it earned in theatrical release. Its video revenue easily surpasses both of the films that beat it at the box office that year, Shrek the Third and Spider-Man 3, and even currently holds an edge over The Dark Knight.

That sort of overall theatrical/video performance indicates a wide-reaching fan base, making it the rarest of rare true four quadrant tentpole release. Of course, all of these same factors work against it next time as people remember how disappointed they were by the second film. That's why it's a savvy move by Michael Bay to jump off and leave that timebomb in the hands of some other director who will make a better movie that is much less successful.

You like explosions? We got explosions! And dizzy cam!

Kim Hollis: What is it about Michael Bay films that make them so populist? And do you think any other director could have had as much success with the Transformers license as he has?

Daron Aldridge: He gives the people what they want - explosions, pretty people running from explosions, and not a lot of plot/dialogue between explosions. I read quite a few Facebook status update reviews of how great the movie was. Obviously, my frugal nature that prevents me from spending 8 or 9 bucks on something like this is not the norm. That negative response I mentioned earlier that I was waiting/wanting to dent the box office isn't showing up amongst my "friends".

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