“Transformers: Age of Extinction” became the first film this year to pass $1 billion at the global box office.

The Michael Bay film is the second picture in the giant robots franchise to hit those lofty heights, after 2009’s “Transformers: Dark of the Moon.” The latest “Transformers” was propelled by a record-breaking reception in China, where the film has earned north of $300 million, a new high-water mark for the world’s second-largest movie market. Its cumulative total includes $763.8 million internationally and $241.2 million at the domestic box office.

For the fourth film in the franchise, Paramount shook things up, upgrading original series star Shia LaBeouf for Mark Wahlberg and shooting large parts of the movie in China in order to better appeal to that burgeoning market.

The studio is making sure it doesn’t let its golden goose fly the coop. This week it announced a three-year deal extension with Bay and his production company, Platinum Dunes.