Weekend Box Office: 'Pacific Rim Uprising' Earns $2.4M in Previews

That's behind the preview gross for the first 'Pacific Rim.'


The bots are back.


Legendary and Universal's big-budget release Pacific Rim: Uprising began stomping into North American theaters Thursday night, grossing $2.4 million from 2,850 theaters.


That compares to $3.6 million in previews for the first Pacific Rim, which debuted to $37 million domestically Pacific Rim 2 — which will be playing in a total of 3,700 theaters on Friday — is tracking to open to an even more modest $25 million. The mega robots are expected to be a far bigger player overseas, where the $150 million film is opening day-and-date in most major markets, including China (Legendary East has sole distribution duties in the Middle Kingdom).



The first Pacific Rim, directed by Guillermo del Toro, earned a sizable $309.2 million overseas in 2013, including $111.9 million in China. Domestically, it topped out at $101.8 million after a $37.3 million bow.


This time out, the human-piloted bots go up against otherworldly monsters of mass destruction. John Boyega leads the cast, with Steven S. DeKnight helming in his feature directorial debut. Legendary and Universal greenlighted the sequel prior to Legendary getting new leadership and a fresh infusion of funding. Legendary put up the majority of the production budget.


Pacific Rim 2 should have the distinction of being the film to finally unseat Black Panther.


In its sixth weekend, Black Panther is expected to earn between $17 million and $18 million as it passes fellow Marvel film The Avengers ($623 million) to become the top-grossing superhero film of all time in North America, unadjusted for inflation.