Last year, moviegoers under the age of 25 turned out in force for Transformers: Dark of the Moon, propelling the film to post a six-day debut of $180.7 million when opening over the July 4 holiday, including a three-day weekend total of $97.9 million.

This past week, fellow Hasbro Entertainment property Battleship— complete with Transformers-like aliens — debuted to a dismal $25.3 million at the domestic box office, sending shockwaves throughout the film industry.

WithThe Avengersstill storming the marketplace, observers knew that Universal and Hasbro’sBattleship would come in on the more modest side ($35 million to $40 million), but no one expected it to come in at such a low level after making $226 million overseas.

The big difference betweenBattleshipandDark of the Moon: 66 percent ofBattleship’saudience was over the age of 25, and 50 percent was over 30.

Some speculate that younger moviegoers have no connection to the classic board game that Battleship is based on. Another problem could be the perception that it is some sort ofTransformers spinoff.

Can’t say that I’m surprised. Few people younger than 25 will have played “Battleship” and few people older than 25 will have been compelled to see it from nostalgia. It just wasn’t that great a game (even if you did throw yourself off a dock each time your battleship was sunk).