‘Transformers’ Box Office More Than Meets the Eye?

On Saturday morning we drove to Paramus, New Jersey, where we stopped at a Circuit City to ask about getting a new car stereo installed. While one red-clad, 19-year-old Circuit City employee checked the installation schedule, another stood next to us, visibly twitching with excitement. He looked like he had something to get off his chest and could barely stand not to say it right then.

“What?� we finally asked.

“I saw Transformers last night,� he said. “Holy shit, it was awesome.�

Other, more measured responses from around the Web:

A letter to Optimus Prime from Geico. [McSweeney’s]

Some aren’t so impressed by Transformers’ box-office take, terming it the “Biggest Six-and-a-Half Day Weekend Overlapping a Midweek National Holiday Ever (For a Non-Sequel).� [Defamer]

Paramount tells Nikki Finke that African-Americans and Latinos are swelling the audiences for Transformers, and that 90 percent of adolescent boys and 82 percent of parents say they would definitely recommend it to others. That 82 percent seems high, and that 90 percent seems really low. [Deadline Hollywood Daily]

Transformers is already No. 2 on the all-time Robot/Cyborg Box Office list, trailing only Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Sadly, No. 13 Short Circuit may never catch up. [Box Office Mojo]

Real-live Transformers at a cosplay convention. The amount of work and physical training that went into these costumes is both inspiring and deeply disturbing. [YouTube]

Jason Michael Burrows is now Jason Megatron Burrows, thanks to the Kings County District Court (and, presumably, a fifth of vodka). [Flickr]