It was a very close race at the box office on Thursday between Paramount’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Fox’s Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. Transformers 2 outpaced Ice Age 3 by an estimated $300,000 for the day. As a result of the Independence Day holiday tomorrow, most box office numbers for yesterday are estimates.

Transformers 2 grossed an estimated $11.5 million on Thursday. That was up 5 percent from Wednesday and down 60 percent from last Thursday. The sequel to the popular 2007 film passed both the $250 million mark and the studio’s Star Trek yesterday. That already makes Transformers 2 the second highest grossing film of 2009 thus far and today the film will pass Disney’s UP to take over the top spot of the year. It looks it will be an extremely close race for first place this weekend between Transformers 2 and Ice Age 3, with Transformers 2 looking to have the slight edge after yesterday’s results.

Ice Age 3 grossed an estimated $11.2 million yesterday, which was down 19 percent from the film’s opening day performance. The computer animated sequel has grossed $25.0 million in two days of release, which is a bit soft by the standards set by the previous two installments of the franchise. At the same time, Ice Age 3 could still finish in first place this weekend if it is able to experience a big enough surge in business today. As a result of Independence Day falling on Saturday we could still see some unexpected daily fluctuations for all films throughout the weekend, but at the moment Ice Age 3 appears headed for a five-day start in the $70 million to $77 million range.

Universal’s Public Enemies remained in third place with a daily gross of $6.6 million. Like Ice Age 3, Public Enemies was also down 19 percent from Wednesday. The Michael Mann directed film starring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale has grossed $14.8 million in two days, which is in line with the lower end of pre-release expectations. Public Enemies is running 4 percent behind the pace of 2002’s Road to Perdition , though that becomes a more notable 23 percent gap when adjusting for ticket price inflation (it should also be noted that Road to Perdition opened on a Friday). Public Enemies is currently on pace for a five-day start in the $40 million to $46 million range.

Disney’s The Proposal and Warner’s The Hangover rounded out the day’s top five for a second straight day. Both films displayed very strong holds for the day as The Proposal was up 20 percent from Wednesday and down 7 percent from last Thursday, while The Hangover was up 25 percent from Wednesday and up 6 percent from last Thursday. To date The Proposal has grossed $81.4 million, while The Hangover has grossed $193.8 million, as both comedies have exceeded expectations.

Warner's My Sister’s Keeper finished in sixth place on Thursday with an estimated $2.0 million. The film’s one-week total stands at an estimated $20.7 million, thanks in part to solid midweek business.

BOXOFFICE.com's box office recap for June can be read here.