Paramount’s Transformers: Age Of Extinction held on to pole position in North America over a lacklustre July Fourth holiday weekend that saw a year-on-year drop of nearly 50 percent.

Michael Bay’s robot sequel added an estimated $36.4m for $174.7m after two weekends following a 64% decline.

The global Imax take was $13.1m from 668 screens for $53m, making T4 the fastest Imax title to cross $50m. The previous best was Dark Knight Rises, which finished on $51.9m.

Warner Bros’ Melissa McCarthy comedy Tammy arrived in second place on $21.2m from 3,465 theatres, rising to $32.9m over the five-day Wednesday-Sunday period.

Sony/Screen Gems’ horror thriller Deliver Us From Evil starring Eric Bana, Edgar Ramirez and Sean Harris debuted at number three on $9.5m from 3,049, climbing to $15m over five days.

Relativity Media’s family film Earth To Echo debuted at number six on $8.3m from 3,230 and grossed $13.5m over five days.

Sony’s 22 Jump Street in fourth place stands at $158.9m after four weekends, while DreamWorks Animation’s How To Train Your Dragon 2 has taken $140,000 through Fox International after the same period.

Sony’s Think Like A Man Too stands at $57.2m after three weekends and will not catch up with the 2012 original’s $91.5m, which translates to an inflation-adjusted $94.8m.

Meanwhile Tom Cruise could be about to rack up another $100m result as Warner Bros’ Edge Of Tomorrow brought in $3.6m in the fifth weekend to reach $90.9m in tenth place.

Lionsgate’s documentary America surged 31 places to number 11 after expanding from three to 1,102 sites in the second weekend. The $2.7m gross boosts the tally to $4m.

Begin Again expanded from five to 175 sites through TWC and climbed 16 places to number 15 on $1.3m for an early $1.9m tally after two sessions.

Next weekend will pick up when Fox launches Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes. In limited release, IFC opens Richard Linklater’s acclaimed Boyhood.

Estimated Top 10 North America July 4-6 2014
Film (Dist) / Est wkd gross / Est total to date

1 (1) Transformers: Age Of Extinction (Paramount) PPI $36.4m $174.7m

2 (-) Tammy (Warner Bros) WBPI $21.2m $32.9m

3 (-) Deliver Us From Evil (Sony/Screen Gems) SPRI $9.5m $15m

4 (2) 22 Jump Street (Sony) SPRI $9.4m $158.9m

5 (3) How To Train Your Dragon 2 (Fox-DreamWorks Animation) Fox International $8.8m $140m

6 (-) Earth To Echo (Relativity Media) Relativity International $8.3m $13.5m

7 (5) Maleficent (Disney) WDSMPI $6.1m $213.9m

8 (6) Jersey Boys (Warner Bros) WBPI $5.2m $36.7m

9 (4) Think Like A Man Too (Sony/Screen Gems) SPRI $4.9m $57.2m

10 (7) Edge Of Tomorrow (Warner Bros) WBPI $3.6m $90.9m