Pacific Rim Uprising Tops Black Panther At Weekend Box Office
Pacific Rim Uprising has unseated Black Panther from its top box office spot. The action sequel made $28 million in its opening weekend, good enough to push the Marvel film, which brought in $16.6 million in its sixth weekend in theaters, down to second place for the first time.
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 film did not do as well as its predecessor at the domestic box office. That film, which was released in 2013, debuted to $37.2 million, although that was only enough for the third place spot after the second weekend of Despicable Me 2 and the premiere of Grown Ups 2. (via Box Office Mojo) However, that film also hit theaters in the more lucrative summer months. Pacific Rim Uprising, which carries a $150 million budget, is expected to do bigger business overseas 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. It received a B CinemaScore.
Although Black Panther finally lost its top box office spot this weekend, it did reach another impressive milestone — beating out The Avengers to become the highest-grossing superhero flick at the U.S. box office of all time. The film, which stars Chadwick Boseman as the titular superhero, surpassed Marvel's big team-up by jumping to $630.9 million domestic, compared to The Avengers' $623.3 million. It is currently the fifth highest grossing domestic film of all time, and the 12th highest grossing film worldwide.
This weekend also saw a slew of other, smaller new releases hitting theaters. The new release that fared best was the animated kids flick Sherlock Gnomes, a sequel to 2011's Gnomeo and Juliet starring James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, and Johnny Depp. The movie, which currently sits at a 21 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, performed below $15 million expectations with a disappointing $10.6 million, good for fourth place.
Sony's religious film Paul, Apostle of Christ took eighth place, performing slightly above $4 million expectations with a cool $5 million. The film, which stars Tim Caviezel, Oliver Martinez, and James Faulkner, received negative reviews from critics and currently sits at a 35 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Like last weekend's surprise religious hit I Can Only Imagine, the movie received a much better reception from audiences, earning a 92 percent audience score on the same platform.
Rounding out the top 10 was the Bella Thorne-starring teen romance Midnight Sun, which narrowly topped Steven Soderbergh's iPhone-filmed thriller Unsane with $4.1 million to that film's $3.8 million. Midnight Sun was trashed by critics with a 21 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, but it still received an A- CinemaScore from audiences. Unsane, which stars Claire Foy, was a different story, earning a 78 percent on Rotten Tomatoes but a B- CinemaScore.
You can view this weekend's full box office results (via Box Office Mojo) below.
Top 10 Weekend Box Office Gross
1. Pacific Rim Uprising: $28,003,000 (– percent), $28,003,000 Total Domestic Gross
2. Black Panther: $16,658,000 (-37.5 percent), $630,916,236 Total Domestic Gross
3. I Can Only Imagine: $13,837,495 (-19.1 percent), $38,316,986 Total Domestic Gross
4. Sherlock Gnomes: $10,600,000 (– percent), $10,600,000 Total Domestic Gross
5. Tomb Raider: $10,430,000 (-55.9 percent), $41,748,108 Total Domestic Gross
6. A Wrinkle in Time: $8,044,000 (-50.5 percent), $73,886,607 Total Domestic Gross
7. Love, Simon: $7,800,000 (-33.7 percent), $23,695,601 Total Domestic Gross
8. Paul, Apostle of Christ: $5,000,000 (– percent), $5,000,000 Total Domestic Gross
9. Game Night: $4,160,000 (-25.7 percent), $60,813,535 Total Domestic Gross
10. Midnight Sun: $4,119,000 (– percent), $4,119,000 Total Domestic Gross