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It’s moment of truth for Star Plus

: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen may generate more than $200 million in ticket sales in its first week in theaters, making Viacom’s sequel about superhero robots a frontrunner in the summer box-office race. Revenue from the first seven days may approach the $238.6 million generated by last year’s biggest picture, Time Warner’s The Dark Knight, in the first week.

A strong opening would restore momentum to the industry after consecutive weekends of slowing sales and give a boost to Viacom’s Paramount. “Everybody’s counting on pretty big numbers, so it’s certainly an important movie” for Paramount, said David Bank, an analyst for RBC Capital Markets. “It’s arguably their most important franchise.”

Star Trek, the studio’s other big summer film, has generated $241 million since its May 8 release and leads the box-office this year. Paramount ranks third in 2009 sales with $807 million, according to Box Office Mojo.

The films are part of Paramount chairman and chief executive Brad Grey’s plan to increase profit by developing more wholly owned franchises. Films developed in-house have greater profit potential than those for which Paramount only gets a distribution fee. Paramount’s GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra, scheduled to open in August, is another potential franchise. Like the Transformers movies, GI Joe is based on toys from Hasbro.

Time Warner is first in sales this year with $897 million, followed by News Corp with $848.7 million. The rate of growth in box-office sales had slowed to 10% as of June 21 from 12% during the first quarter, according to Media By Numbers. Sales were down year-over-year in three of past four weekends.

Jeffrey Hartke, box-office analyst for Hollywood Stock Exchange, forecasts Revenge of the Fallen sales of $170 million during the film’s first five days. The studio projects more than $150 million, according to a person with knowledge of the situation who declined to be named because Paramount’s forecasts aren’t public. Hartke expects the other candidate for the summer’s top picture, Time Warner’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, to take in as much as $145 million in its first five days. The film, the sixth in the Potter series, opens July 15.