PAWTUCKET – “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” the new Paramount Pictures movie based on Hasbro Inc.’s toy brand, generated more ticket revenue during its first five days of release than any other film except last year’s “The Dark Knight,” Bloomberg News reported.

Despite critical reviews, “Transformers” sold $201 million in tickets between its opening last Wednesday and yesterday, just short of the $204 million five-day total posted by “The Dark Knight” a year ago, according to the research firm Hollywood.com Box-Office. It also set a record for the biggest five-day haul for a movie that opened on a Wednesday; “Dark Knight” opened on a Friday.

The Internet Movie Database estimates that “Transformers” cost $200 million to make, meaning the film may be in the black already.

So far this year, only “Up” and “Star Trek” have sold more tickets than “Transformers” already has, according to Box Office Mojo LLC, another research firm.

The movie also topped the estimate of Jeffrey Hartke, an analyst at the movie Web site Hollywood Stock Exchange, who said he expected “Transformers” to earn $170 million over its first five days in release.

“To cross $200 million in five days is huge,” Chad Hartigan, a box office analyst for Exhibitor Relations, told Bloomberg. “ ‘Transformers’ has put itself in some pretty illustrious company.”

Both Hasbro and Paramount are counting on “Transformers” to boost earnings this year, much as the first movie in the series did in 2007. Products connected with the toy generated $482 million in sales two year ago and made up 12.6 percent of Hasbro’s net revenue, according to regulatory filings. It was the only time over the past three years that one product line has brought in more than 10 percent of Hasbro’s net sales.

Paramount wants to turn “Transformers” into a lucrative film franchise and plans to make more films based on the brand with director Michael Bay, studio CEO Brad Grey told Bloomberg. “I hope there’s a third, a fourth and a fifth” Transformers film, Grey declared. The original “Transformers,” released in 2007, earned $708 million worldwide.

Grey also said he hopes another film based on a Hasbro toy brand, “G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra,” will be a blockbuster when it gets released in August. “One of my goals in going to Paramount was to build franchise pictures,” said Grey, who joined Paramount in 2005. “Between ‘Transformers’ and ‘Star Trek,’ and hopefully ‘G.I. Joe,’ we are starting to accomplish that goal.”