Pacific Rim Uprising Takes Over the Global Box Office with $150.5M

Legendary Pictures and Universal Pictures‘ Pacific Rim Uprising took over the global box office with an estimated $150.5 million this weekend. In North America, the Steven S. DeKnight-directed sequel opened in first place with $28 million from 3,708 theaters, an average of $7,552 per location. In comparison, Guillermo del Toro’s original Pacific Rim opened to $37.3 million its first weekend in 2013. Audiences gave Pacific Rim Uprising a B CinemaScore.

Pacific Rim Uprising opened in 61 international markets this weekend, including major markets such as Korea, Russia, Taiwan, Mexico, U.K., France, Australia, Germany, Brazil, Italy and Spain, where the film earned $57.5 million. Pacific Rim Uprising also opened in China, where Legendary East is releasing the film, and it is on track to gross $65 million there, for an overseas total of $122.5 million already.

Made for $150 million, Pacific Rim Uprising stars John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Cailee Spaeny, Jing Tian, Rinko Kikuchi, Adria Arjona,Burn Gorman, and Charlie Day.

After reigning for five weeks, Marvel Studios‘ Black Panther dropped to second place at the domestic box office with another $16.7 million to push its six-week total to $630.9 million. That means Black Panther has passed Marvel’s The Avengers to become the No. 1 superhero movie and the fifth overall release of all-time domestically. Internationally, the juggernaut took in $12.9 million this weekend to take its total to $606.4 million (with $102.7 million coming from China). Black Panther stands as the No. 5 Marvel Cinematic Universe release off all time internationally and has grossed more than all other non-MCU superhero releases except for The Dark Knight Rises ($637 million). Worldwide, the movie is now up to $1.237 billion, allowing Black Panther to pass Iron Man 3 and The Fate of the Furious to become the No. 12 release of all time. The Ryan Coogler-directed film stars Chadwick Boseman, Danai Gurira, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, and Andy Serkis.

Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions’ release of the Erwin Brothers faith-based family drama I Can Only Imagine remained in third place domestically with $13.8 million and had the lowest drop in ticket sales out of the top 10 with just 19.1%. The film has earned $38.3 million after two weeks and cost just $7 million to make. I Can Only Imagine stars Dennis Quaid, Cloris Leachman, Trace Adkins, J. Michael Finley, Priscilla Shirer, and Madeline Carroll.

Opening in fourth place in North America was the animated sequel Sherlock Gnomes (Paramount Pictures), which brought in $10.6 million from 3,662 theaters, an average of $2,895 per location. The first film, Gnomeo & Juliet, debuted with $25.4 million back in 2011. Sherlock Gnomes also is now playing in 19 markets overseas where it’s earned $4.6 million. Directed by John Stevenson, Sherlock Gnomes features the voices of James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Maggie Smith, Michael Caine, Ashley Jensen, Matt Lucas, Stephen Merchant, Mary J. Blige and Johnny Depp. The $59 million-budgeted film received a B+ CinemaScore.

Rounding out the top five was Warner Bros. and MGM’s video game adaptation Tomb Raider, which added $10.4 million its second weekend for a total of $41.7 million. The film continues to perform much better internationally and added $34.1 million this weekend from 66 markets to bring its total to $170 million (with $69.4 million coming from China). Worldwide, Tomb Raider is now up to $211.7 million. Made for $94 million, the Roar Uthaug-directed film stars Alicia Vikander, Dominic West, Walton Goggins, Daniel Wu, Sir Derek Jacobi, and Kristin Scott Thomas.

While Disney has had great success with Black Panther, the same can’t be said for the studio’s A Wrinkle in Time. In its third weekend, the Ava DuVernay-directed film dropped to sixth place with $8 million and has now earned $73.8 million domestically. Internationally, the film added $2.3 million for a total of $14.1 million, although it still has a lot of markets to open in. The worldwide sum is at $88 million so far. A Wrinkle in Time stars Storm Reid, Levi Miller, Deric McCabe, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, Chris Pine, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Peña, and André Holland.

Director Greg Berlanti’s Love, Simon (20th Century Fox) added $7.8 million in the seventh spot and has earned $23.7 million after two weeks. Made for $17 million, Love, Simon stars Nick Robinson, Josh Duhamel and Jennifer Garner.

Affirm Films’ Paul, Apostle of Christ took in $5 million from 1,473 locations and landed in eighth place. The faith-based movie, which scored an A- CinemaScore, was directed and written by Andrew Hyatt. The film stars Jim Caviezel, Olivier Martinez, Joanne Whalley, John Lynch, and James Faulkner.