ICE AGE 3D And TRANSFORMERS 2 Battle It Out At The Box Office

**UPDATE: July 5 - Both movies are neck and neck at $42.5 million projected for the weekend - Interesting race! Still say 3D wins out (in fewer theaters mind you!)- here are the estimates (Box Office Mojo):

WEEKEND TOP 5 STUDIO ESTIMATES, JULY 3-5, 2009

Movie Title (Distributor) | Weekend Gross | Theaters | Total Gross | Week #

1. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (Fox)
$42.5 million | 4,099 | $67.5 million | 1

1. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Paramount (DreamWorks))
$42.5 million | 4,234 | $293.5 million | 2

3. Public Enemies (Universal)
$26.2 million | 3,334 | $41.0 million | 1

4. The Proposal (Buena Vista)
$12.8 million | 3,099 | $94.2 million | 3

5. The Hangover (Warner Bros.)
$10.4 million | 3,070 | $204.2 million | 5

Jim here. After the 3D animated movie ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS captured top spot in the box office on this past Wednesday ($13.8m vs $11m), TRANSFORMERS 2 in plain ol' 2D managed to grab back Thursday ($11.5m vs. $11.1m) and Friday's crown ($17.8m vs. $17m) so it is anybody's guess for today's victory as the afternoon matinees light up.

My money is on ICE AGE as the families will be out in full force this weekend. And lets face it - and Michael Bay better be facing it too: If he had done TF2 in 3D, his box office would have been monstrous. And he definitely would have taken the all time 5 day release record from THE DARK KNIGHT.

Bay still claims he is not interested in 3D at the moment but we all know Bay is all about the money. He doesn't hide from it either - it is clear in his interviews: A recent Forbes magazine article has him boldly entitled "Michael Bay, Making movies, enemies AND A LOT OF MONEY". So do I see 3D in Bay's future? Oh yes.

So expect ICE AGE with it's third dimension beat out TF2 today and perhaps tomorrow. The claim for the weekend is completely up in the air though. Lets see!