Guillermo Del Toro finally returned to the director’s chair for Pacific Rim, the ultimate monster movie whose plot boiled down to giant robots versus giant aliens. While the film has won critical praise, it failed to draw an audience big enough to top two family sequels. Despicable Me 2 won the box office again and Adam Sandler’s Grown Ups 2 came in second.
Despicable Me 2 dropped 46 percent from its first weekend, grossing $44.8 million this weekend, notes Box Office Mojo. After just 12 days, Universal’s animated film has already made $229.2 million and is set to pass Despicable Me’s $251.5 million total by the end of the week. It could even reach $350 million by the time it ends its run.
Grown Ups 2, which stars Sandler, Kevin James and a host of Saturday Night Live alumni, beat its 2010 predecessor with a $42.5 million opening. The original film, which also received harsh reviews, made $40.5 million on opening weekend in 2010 and finished with $162 million domestically.
Sandler’s new film is also the biggest comedy of the summer so far, since The Hangover Part III underperformed with a $41.7 million opening.
Pacific Rim got off to a strong start, grossing $3.6 million in late Thursday and midnight shows, notes Deadline. But as the weekend wore on, the film slowed down. It ended the weekend with $38.3 million, which doesn’t sound too good since the film cost $190 million to make.
Legendary Pictures was the main financier, with Warner Bros. only having a minority stake and distribution. The studio is hopeful that strong word of mouth and international box office will help in the long run.
You can check out our Pacific Rim review here.
Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy’s The Heat added another $14 million, while The Lone Ranger fell 65 percent to a terrible $11.1 million second weekend. It’s up to just $71.1 million in total.
image: Facebook