Weekend Wrap-Up: Uprising Wins, but Falls Compared to Original

March 27, 2018

Pacific Rim: Uprising

Pacific Rim: Uprising opened in first place over the weekend. In fact, it opened better than expected with $28.12 million. Unfortunately, that’s nowhere near enough compared to its production budget, so it will need international numbers to thrive. Black Panther was finally removed from top spot, but it also held on better than expected with $17.10 million. As for the rest of the new releases, they ranged from serious disappointments like Sherlock Gnomes and Paul, Apostle of Christ, to complete bombs like Midnight Sun and Unsane. The overall box office slipped just 2.0% from last week earning $129 million. However, this is 36% lower than the same weekend last year. 2018’s lead has completely evaporated and it is now $60 million or $2.1% behind 2017’s pace at $2.64 billion to $2.69 billion. I don’t see that improving this coming weekend.

Pacific Rim: Uprising opened with $28.12 million, which was easily enough for first place at the box office. However, it is 25% lower than the first film’s opening. Add in weaker reviews, a mere B from CinemaScore, and the sequel effect, and the movie will likely earn less than $70 million stateside. It might do better internationally, but not by enough to make up for its loses here.

Black Panther added another $17.10 million to its domestic box office haul, which now sits at $631.36 million after six weeks of release. It is the biggest domestic hit in the MCU and therefore the biggest domestic hit for a Super Hero movie. At this point, $650 million domestically and $1.3 billion worldwide are all but guaranteed.

I Can Only Imagine remained in third place with $13.60 million for a two-week total of $38.08 million. This is an amazing result for a film that cost just $7 million to make. Granted, the studio likely spend more than that on advertising, but the film is still likely very close to breaking even just on its domestic numbers.

Sherlock Gnomes opened in fourth place with just $10.60 million during its opening weekend. The original film opened with just over $25 million, so this is a huge drop. Add in the weak reviews and its B plus from CinemaScore and the film likely won’t stick around in theaters for very long. Granted, the lack of direct competition will help its legs, but that won’t be enough to recover from this start.

Tomb Raider fell 57% to just $10.10 million over the weekend for a total of $41.42 million after ten days of release. It might not get to $60 million domestically, but on the positive side, it has earned nearly $170 million internationally so far. The studio’s share of the film’s worldwide take is likely close to $80 million, which isn’t bad for a film that cost $90 million to make.

The second best new release of the week was Paul, Apostle of Christ, but that film only managed eighth place with $5.17 million during its opening weekend. The film’s reviews suggest little in the way of crossover appeal, and while Easter will help it a little next weekend, it would take a minor miracle to break even any time soon.

Both Midnight Sun and Unsane bombed. There’s no polite way to say that. The former opened in tenth place with $4.12 million in 2,173 theaters for an average $1,896. Its Tomatometer Score is just 21% positive, but it earned an A minus from CinemaScore, so perhaps its target audience will find it on the home market. It bombed too hard in theaters for word-of-mouth to matter there.

Unsane was right behind with $3.76 million in 2,023 theaters. It too missed the Mendoza Line ($2,000/theater), so it will also disappear from theaters shortly. That’s too bad, as it earned the best reviews, even though it only managed a B minus from CinemaScore. That said, a B minus isn't that bad for a horror movie.

Moving on to the sophomore class, we find Love, Simon in seventh place with $7.61 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $23.50 million. It only fell 35%, so it should stick around in theaters long enough to hit $40 million, which is more than enough to be a hit for a film that cost $10 million to make. On the other hand, 7 Days in Entebbe plummeted 60% to just $636,000 over the weekend for a total of $2.90 million after two. Its average is just $761, so I would be surprised if it were in more than 100 theaters by Friday.

Finally we get to Fifty Shades Freed. The film fell out of the top 20, but that didn’t stop it from becoming the third film released in 2018 to get to $100 million domestically.

- Weekend Box Office Chart

- Pacific Rim: Uprising Comparisons
- Sherlock Gnomes Comparisons
- Paul, Apostle of Christ Comparisons
- Midnight Sun Comparisons
- Unsane Comparisons

Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Black Panther, Pacific Rim: Uprising, Fifty Shades Freed, Sherlock Gnomes, Tomb Raider, 7 Days in Entebbe, I Can Only Imagine, Paul, Apostle of Christ, Love, Simon, Unsane, Marvel Cinematic Universe