Pacific Rim Uprising Dethrones Black Panther At Box Office But Panther Still Sets Another RecordPosted by Wilson Morales
March 25, 2018
After being on top for the last five weekends, Marvel’s Black Panther has finally been dethroned at the box office by Pacific Rim Uprising, led by John Boyega. The sequel to the 2013’s Pacific Rim looks to bring in around $28M compared to Panther’s $17M.
Nevertheless, Ryan Coogler‘s superhero film has achieved another record. Panther’s $631M domestic take becomes the highest grossing Marvel movie ever, surpassing The Avengers’ $623.4M gross.
Mashable states that 11 other MCU releases have come and gone since The Avengers dropped, and not one of them — not even the epic Captain America: Civil War smackdown, which included Spider-Man’s MCU debut — came close to #1. The Avengers sequel, Age of Ultron, is the next one down on the list, with a total domestic box office of $459 million.
The film also moved up the charts as the fifth highest grossing film all-time domestically. The leaders at the box office all-time currently has Star Wars: Force Awakens ($936.6M), Avatar ($760.5M), Titanic ($659.3M), and Jurassic World ($652.2M). If Panther can muster out another $30M in the coming weeks, it can move up to third place.
According to THR, globally, the film, which cost $200 million to make, has earned about $1.2 billion to date. By the end of Sunday, it will leap past Iron Man 3 ($1.214 billion) to become the third-biggest comic book adaptation behind The Avengers ($1.5 billion) and Avengers: Age of Ultron ($1.4 billion).
With virtually an all-black cast (Chadwick Boseman, Lupita Nyong’o, Michael B. Jordan, Danai Gurira, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker and Sterling K. Brown), Black Panter continues to defy expectations.
As for Pacific Rim, it’s a big win for its lead actor John Boyega. Variety states that its $28 million opening weekend at 3,708 locations was modest when factoring in the mixed critical response and 46% on Rotten Tomatoes score. Though it opened with a softer debut than Guillermo del Toro’s predecessor “Pacific Rim,” which saw $37 million in July 2013, the sequel was enough to dethrone “Black Panther” in the superhero tentpole’s sixth weekend.
Steven S. DeKnight co-wrote and directed “Pacific Rim Uprising” with a reported $150 million budget. The original, which starred Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Charlie Hunnam, and Robert Kazinsky, went on to gross $411 million at the worldwide box office, thanks to a strong international showing, especially in China, where it made $112 million compared to the U.S.’ $101.8 million. The sequel brought in estimated $120.5M with 54% of that coming from China ($65M).
Set 10 years after the Battle of the Breach with a new generation of Jaeger pilots ready to combat the evolving Kaiju monsters and prevent humanity’s extinction. John Boyega plays Jake Pentecost, the son of Elba’s character Stacker Pentecost, who sacrificed his life in the first film. Scott Eastwood, Jing Tian, Cailee Spaeny, Kikuchi, Burn Gorman, Adria Arjona, and Day also star.
Roadside Attraction and Lionsgate’s faith-based “I Can Only Imagine” remains a force in its second weekend with $13 million from 2,253 sites. Based on the best-selling Christian song, “I Can Only Imagine” earned a surprisingly strong $17.1 million at the domestic box office, bringing its total up to $38 million.
Stay tune for more updates.
