Those Transformers robots are record-breakers at the box office.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen opened with US$60.6 million domestically in its first day, a new high for a Wednesday debut, according to distributor Paramount.

The previous best Wednesday opening was US$44.2 million for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in 2007.

The Transformers sequel also came in with the second-biggest single-day revenues, behind only The Dark Knight, with US$67.2 million. The Dark Knight opened on a Friday.

midnight screenings

Fans stayed up into the wee hours to be the first to see the Transformers sequel, which took in US$16 million from midnight screenings alone.

Paramount projected the movie would follow with US$25 million on Thursday and climb to at least US$150 million by the end of the weekend. In just five days, that would put it to nearly half the US$319 million total the first Transformers film did during its entire run in 2007.

The sequel reunites Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Tyrese Gibson, John Turturro and other co-stars as the humans again team up with the shape-shifting Autobots against their evil robot enemies, the Decepticons.