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Pacific Rim Uprising Brings In $2.35 Million In Thursday Previews

Could Pacific Rim Uprising finally knock Black Panther out of the top box office spot? The action film is expected to come out on top with a muted $20 to $25 million opening, compared to the $16 million that the Marvel superhero flick is expected to take in during its sixth weekend in theaters. (via Box Office Mojo)

Pacific Rim Uprising stars John Boyega as former Jaeger pilot Jake Pentecost, son of Idris Elba's Stacker Pentecost from the original Guillermo del Toro film. In the years since the last film, Jake has abandoned his training and gotten caught up in the criminal underworld. However, when an even bigger threat is unleashed, Jake has to team up with his estranged sister Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) to try to live up to his father's legacy.

The movie set itself up for a solid, if a bit slow, domestic box office run by bringing in $2.35 million in Thursday preview showings. That is down from the $3.6 million that the first film brought in ahead of its $37.2 million opening weekend, but it is above the $2.1 million that Tomb Raider brought in last weekend before opening to $23.6 million. The movie, which carries a $150 million budget, is expected to do bigger business internationally than domestically.

Scott Eastwood, Cailee Spaeny, Charlie Day, Adria Arjona, Jing Tian, and Burn Gorman star in Pacific Rim Uprising. The movie is directed by Daredevil's Steven S. DeKnight, in his feature film directorial debut, based on a script from DeKnight, Emily Carmichael (RPG OKC), Kira Snyder (The Handmaid's Tale), and T.S Nowlin (the Maze Runner franchise). The film has received mixed reviews from critics and currently sits at a 46 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

Although Black Panther is likely to finally lose its top box office spot this weekend, the film is expected to reach another impressive milestone — beating out The Avengers to become the highest-grossing superhero film at the U.S. box office of all time. The film, which stars Chadwick Boseman as the titular superhero, currently sits at $612.1 million domestic compared to The Avengers' $623.3 million.

Also releasing this weekend is the Steven Soderbergh thriller Unsane, starring The Crown's Claire Foy. The movie, which was directed by Soderbergh based on a script from Jonathan Bernstein and James Greer (The Spy Next Door), was filmed entirely on an iPhone 7. The film holds an 80 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and brought in $300,000 in Thursday previews. It is expected to open to somewhere around $3.5 million.

Other new releases include the animated Sherlock Gnomesa sequel to 2011's Gnomeo and Juliet starring James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, and Johnny Depp. The kids flick, which has a 29 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, is expected to open to somewhere around $15 million. Also opening is Bella Thorne's romance Midnight Sun, which should take in around $2 million, and Sony's religious film Paul, Apostle of Christ, which is expected to bring in around $4 million. Both films received negative reviews from critics, with a 20 percent and a 25 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, respectively.