‘Pacific Rim Uprising’ Takes $2.35M Thursday Night – Box Office
March 23, 2018‘Pacific Rim Uprising’ Takes $2.35M Thursday Night – Box Office
Legendary/Unverisal’s bots versus beasts sequel Pacific Rim Uprising made a solid $2.35M last night at 2,850 locations from showtimes starting at 7PM.
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At an estimated net production cost between $155M-$176M, this sequel was made squarely for the Asian territories the first installment succeeded in earning $309.2M overseas to its $101.8M domestic. No one is expecting it to pop stateside, and the sequel’s fate will be squarely determined by its global haul. Ironically, Pacific Rim Uprising is expected to finally unseat Black Panther at the box office with a take that’s in the low $20M range to the Marvel title’s sixth weekend of $18M-$19M, but a lot of that has to do with T’Challa going gray: He’s had a rare five-weekend reign at No. 1 for a February release, the last of which hit that was 1991’s Silence of the Lambs and 1992’s Wayne’s World.
Pac Rim 2 opens day and date with China. It isn’t a Chinese co-production similar to Legendary’s Great Wall, so it will only receive the 25-27% rental back from the Middle Kingdom. If it was a co-prod, it would reap a much higher take home around 37%. Legendary is carrying the bulk of the budget’s weight at an estimated 90% while Uni is reportedly covering 10%. Critics didn’t have the patience for this Transformers-like vs. Godzilla beasts sequel punching it with a 46% Rotten versus the 2013 title’s 71% fresh.
Similar to last weekend with roughly four wide entries, today is crowded with new entrants Sherlock Gnomes from Paramount/MGM, Sony’s Paul, Apostle of Christ, Global Road’s Midnight Sun, and Bleecker Street/Steven Soderbergh’s horror pic Unsane. Also in limited release is Fox Searchlight’s stop-motion title Isle of Dogs from Wes Anderson.
Paramount’s Sherlock Gnomes, the sequel to 2011 sleeper Gnomeo and Juliet (near $100M stateside and $94M abroad) from Disney-Miramax was made for an estimated $59M with MGM covering a third of that. Analysts believe it’s got a shot to beat its mid-teen tracking with a $20M start. The pic hasn’t registered a Rotten Tomatoes score yet.
Roadside Attractions Christian rock surprise I Can Only Imagine is jumping from 1,627 theaters to 2,253 locations in weekend 2. It will likely bury its competition, Paul, Apostle of Christ is which is hoping for a miracle with only a $5m-$7M opening. That’s not good, even the pic cost $5M. Sony is hoping for legs heading into Holy week next week. The story follows Paul going from the most infamous persecutor of Christians to Jesus Christ’s most influential apostle. Directed by Andrew Hyatt, Paul stars James Faulkner in the title role and Passion of the Christ‘s Jim Caviezel as Luke.
MGM/Warner Bros.’ Tomb Raider in its second weekend is expected to ease 45% for a take between $12M-$13M. In its first week the Alicia Vikander reboot has grossed $31.2M.
Teen romance Midnight Romance is holdover from the previous Open Road regime. Contractually, the new owners at Global Road had to release it and they’ve minimized any financial shortfall. The pic was acquired for a low MG and is targeting teen females 13-17. Bella Thorne and Patrick Schwarzenneger in this story about a girl with a condition that prevents her from being in the sunlight. Tracking suggests $4M-$6M.
Soderbergh horror film Unsane has the second best reviews heading into the weekend with 80% certified, but it’s expected to make the least with a $3M-$4M start in about 2,000 venues including Canada. The pic drew $300K in previews last night. Claire Foy, Joshua Leonard and Jay Pharoah star.
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