It’s been a mixed week for Michael Bay, Mark Wahlberg and Transformers: Age of Extinction. First off, weak reviews emanated from the press, threatening to derail the bandwagon that had, until then, been moving pretty steadily.

Transformers: Age of ExtinctionTransformers: Age of Extinction has been a flop with the critics, but the money is rolling in

Of course, studios will happily ignore reviews if the box if good, and Age of Extinction seems to be making up for that poor critical reception with cold, hard, countable cash - $312,642,664 of it to be exact. 

Of that $300m, $100m came on opening day. And there’s more to come: The Transformers will arrive in the U.K this Friday, while lucrative markets in brazil, Mexico and Japan are yet to be tapped. It’s safe to say that, despite a critical mauling of sorts, T:AoE will hit the $600m with ease, placing it firmly within the ‘successful’ landing target. 

More: With 18%, 'Transformers: Age of Extinction' Looks Another Dud for Michael Bay

About those reviews, though; Age of Extinction didn’t just get ‘mixed reviews’, it didn’t polarize opinion of split the critics – it’s a stinker. “There's no good reason to justify how a film that's essentially about robots bashing other robots can be stretched out to such gargantuan lengths, especially with a plot as hole-ridden and lightweight as this,” wrote Rob Carnevale of The List.

“Bay has said that this film will kick off a second trilogy of Transformers movies - and I think he's serious. That means there will be (at least) two more of these things. God help us all,” said Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly.

And finally, Tom Shone writes in his 1-star review for The Guardian: Rather touchingly, a hotel chain has complained about its portrayal in the movie, not understanding that to be turned to rubble in a Michael Bay film is the surest sign that you have arrived, geo-politically, cinematically, existentially.So is the baton passed. Let the Chinese now fret the stage. Tis’ their turn to withstand the sound and fury of Michael Bay.