But even if the North American opening for “Age of Extinction” ultimately dips below the magic $100 million mark, this robot extravaganza from Michael Bay will still have achieved something momentous: For the first time, a Hollywood movie delivered roughly the same big total in China as it did in North America. “Age of Extinction,” which cost Paramount at least $325 million to make and market, sold $90 million in tickets in China over its first three days, by far the best result on record for any Hollywood film in that fast-growing market. (To compare, the last “Transformers” movie, released in 2011, opened to less than half of that amount there.) Imax theaters in particular turned out crowds; the large-format exhibition company said that ticket sales in China for “Age of Extinction” beat those for “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” its previous record holder, by more than two to one.

“This is a huge turning point for the Hollywood-China dynamic,” said Phil Contrino, chief analyst of BoxOffice.com. “It levels the playing field between the two markets.” “Age of Extinction,” which took in an additional $111.3 million from other foreign markets, received disastrous reviews from critics, many of whom complained of an overlong running time of 166 minutes. But ticket buyers gave it an A-minus grade in CinemaScore exit polls, boding well for word of mouth. No other film opened in wide release against the movie, the fourth installment of a franchise that has now taken in more than $3 billion globally.