Acclaimed director Guillermo Del Toro returns to the box office this weekend and not with another horror film he just executive produced. His Pacific Rim, from Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures, opened last night and goes wide today. Hollywood isn’t expecting a big weekend for the expensive monster epic, which means that it could surprise everyone if it’s a hit.
Industry analysts are predicting that Pacific Rim will have a poor $30 million opening, which would be the worst-case scenario for Warners since it cost $185 million to make. The Wrap notes that the film got some good news on Thursday when Fandango said that the film made up 60 percent of presales for the weekend. That could be a sign that monster fans and del Toro devotees will come out in force.
Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi and Charlie Day star in the film, which has giant monsters attacking the human race. Our only solution is to build our own giant robots to fight them.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Pacific Rim is also rolling out internationally in 38 markets this weekend.
The only other wide release this weekend is Adam Sandler’s Grown Ups 2, which cost Sony $80 million to make. It is a sequel to the 2010 film that was slammed by critics, but audiences didn’t care. Box Office Mojo notes that the original made $160 million domestically. Sony expects Grown Ups 2 to make around $40 million, which is what Grown Ups opened to in 2010.
Meanwhile, Universal’s Despicable Me 2 also has a chance to beat both of these movies. If the film drops around 45 percent from last weekend’s huge opening, that could bring it over $40 million.
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