‘Pacific Rim: Uprising’ Opens to $28 Million at the Box Office

Pacific Rim: Uprising is set to win its opening weekend.

Pacific Rim: Uprising earned $10.4 million from 3,708 locations on Friday and $28 million in its opening weekend. That’s up from the initial $25 million projections, but still significantly lower than the $37 million earned by the first Pacific Rim in 2013. Considering the first film’s sequel prospects were touch and go, the lower opening for Uprising does not bode well for the franchise’s future.

Black Panther was the first movie to win five consecutive weekends at the box office since Avatar in 2009. The film will earn $17 million in its sixth week at the box office, one of the seven highest sixth weekends in box office history. The film’s domestic box office total is now $631 million, passing Marvel’s The Avengers to become the highest grossing superhero movie of all time.

Tomb Raider slides down the box office chart in its second weekend, dropping from second place to fifth. The film, a reboot of the franchise based on the popular video game series,earned $9 million from 3,854 locations this weekend. Tomb Raider has earned $166 million worldwide over eight days.

Pacific Rim: Uprising is a sequel to 2013’s Pacific Rim, which was directed by Guillermo del Toro. Del Toro produced Pacific Rim: Uprising but handed over directing duties to Steven S. DeKnight. The film stars John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Cailee Spaeny, Jing Tian, Adria Arjona, and Zhang Jin. The cast also includes original Pacific Rim stars Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, and Burn Gorman.

The sequel has been met with mixed critical reactions, including a three-star review from ComicBook.com’s Kofi Outlaw.

“In the end, Pacific Rim: Uprising is a monsters vs. robots movie that’s been streamlined to accent its biggest selling point,” Outlaw wrote. “If anime-style action is all you ever wanted from the franchise, you arguably might enjoy the sequel more with its cooler lineup of Jaegers and monsters. If story was a problem for you the first time around, then this second chapter might make your head explode.”

Keep reading to see how the top ten movies at this weekend’s box office stack up.

1. Pacific Rim: Uprising

Opening Weekend
Friday: $10.4 million
Weekend: $28 million

Jake Pentecost is a once-promising Jaeger pilot whose legendary father gave his life to secure humanity’s victory against the monstrous Kaiju. Jake has since abandoned his training only to become caught up in a criminal underworld. But when an even more unstoppable threat is unleashed to tear through cities and bring the world to its knees, Jake is given one last chance by his estranged sister, Mako Mori, to live up to his father’s legacy.

Directed by Steven S. DeKnight, Pacific Rim: Uprising is the sequel to 2013’s Pacific Rim. The film stars John Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Cailee Spaeny, Jing Tian, Adria Arjona, Zhang Jin, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, and Burn Gorman.

2. Black Panther

Week Six
Friday: $4.4 million
Weekend: $17 million
Total: $631 million

After the death of his father, T’Challa returns home to the African nation of Wakanda to take his rightful place as king. When a powerful enemy suddenly reappears, T’Challa’s mettle as king — and as Black Panther — gets tested when he’s drawn into a conflict that puts the fate of Wakanda and the entire world at risk. Faced with treachery and danger, the young king must rally his allies and release the full power of Black Panther to defeat his foes and secure the safety of his people.

Black Panther is directed by Ryan Coogler from a screenplay by Coogler and Joe Robert Cole and stars Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Angela Bassett, Forest Whitaker, and Andy Serkis

3. I Can Only Imagine

Opening Two
Friday: $3.74 million
Weekend: $13.8 million
Total: $38.3 million

Growing up in Texas, Bart Millard suffers physical and emotional abuse at the hands of his father. His childhood and relationship with his dad inspires him to write the hit song “I Can Only Imagine” as singer of the Christian band MercyMe.

I Can Only Imagine is directed by Andrew Erwin and Jon Erwin, and stars J. Michael Finley as Bart Millard, the lead singer who wrote the song that the film is based on, which is the most-played Christian radio single of all time. it also stars Dennis Quaid, Cloris Leachman, and Trace Adkins.

4. Sherlock Gnomes

Opening Weekend
Friday: $2.8 million
Weekend: $10.6 million

After a string of garden gnome disappearances in London, Gnomeo & Juliet look to legendary detective Sherlock Gnomes to solve the case of their missing friends and family.

Sherlock Gnomes is a sequel to 2011’s Gnomeo & Juliet. The animated film stars the voices of James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mary J. Blige, and Johnny Depp, with Jamie Demetriou, Michael Caine, Maggie Smith, Ashley Jensen, Matt Lucas, Stephen Merchant, Julie Walters, Richard Wilson, Julio Bonet, Ozzy Osbourne, and Dan Starkey.  The film is directed by John Stevenson, who also voices Big Boy Gorilla in the movie.

5. Tomb Raider

Week Two
Friday: $2.8 million
Weekend: $10 million
Total: $41.3 million

Lara Croft is the fiercely independent daughter of an eccentric adventurer who vanished years earlier. Hoping to solve the mystery of her father’s disappearance, Croft embarks on a perilous journey to his last-known destination — a fabled tomb on a mythical island that might be somewhere off the coast of Japan. The stakes couldn’t be higher as Lara must rely on her sharp mind, blind faith and stubborn spirit to venture into the unknown.

Based on the 2013 Tomb Raider video game, Tomb Raider star Alicia Vikander, Dominic West, Walton Goggins, Daniel Wu, and Kristin Scott Thomas.

6. A Wrinkle in Time

Week Three
Friday: $2.1 million
Weekend: $8.1million
Total: $73.9 million

Meg Murry and her little brother, Charles Wallace, have been without their scientist father, Mr. Murry, for five years, ever since he discovered a new planet and used the concept known as a tesseract to travel there. Joined by Meg’s classmate Calvin O’Keefe and guided by the three mysterious astral travelers known as Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which, the children brave a dangerous journey to a planet that possesses all of the evil in the universe.

A Wrinkle in Time is directed by Ava DuVernay from a screenplay by Jennifer Lee, based on the novel by Madeleine L’Engle. The film stars Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Michael Peña, Storm Reid, Zach Galifianakis, and Chris Pine.

7. Love, Simon

Week Two
Friday: $2.3 million
Weekend $7.9 million
Total: $23.7 million

Everyone deserves a great love story, but for 17-year-old Simon Spier, it’s a little more complicated. He hasn’t told his family or friends that he’s gay, and he doesn’t know the identity of the anonymous classmate that he’s fallen for online. Resolving both issues proves hilarious, terrifying and life-changing.

Love, Simon is directed by Greg Berlanti, written by Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger, and based on the novel Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. It stars Nick Robinson, Josh Duhamel, and Jennifer Garner and is the first film ever released by a major studio to focus on a gay teen romance.

8. Paul, Apostle of Christ

Opening Weekend
Friday: $1.6 million
Weekend: $5 million

Risking his life, Luke ventures to Rome to visit Paul — the apostle who’s bound in chains and held captive in Nero’s darkest and bleakest prison cell. Haunted by the shadows of his past misdeeds, Paul wonders if he’s been forgotten as he awaits his grisly execution. Before Paul’s death, Luke resolves to write another book that details the birth of what will come to be known as the church.

Paul, Apostle of Christ is written and directed by Andrew Hyatt. The film stars Jim Caviezel, Olivier Martinez, James Faulkner, Joanne Whalley, and John Lynch.

9. Midnight Sun

Opening Weekend
Friday: $1.48 million
Weekend: $4.1 million

Midnight Sun is a romantic tearjerker about 17-year-old Katie Price (Bella Thorne), sheltered at home since childhood with a rare genetic condition, a life-threatening sensitivity to sunlight. Having only her father Jack (Rob Riggle) for company, Katie’s world opens up after dark when she ventures outside to play her guitar. One night, her dreams come true when she’s noticed and asked out by her longtime crush Charlie (Patrick Schwarzenegger), whom she’s secretly watched from her bedroom window for years. As they embark on nightly summer excursions, Katie’s risk to sunlight grows and she’s presented with the gut-wrenching dilemma of whether she can live a normal life with her newfound soul mate.

Based on the 2006 Japanse movie of the same name, Midnight Sun is written by Eric Kirsten, directed by Scott Speer, and stars Bella Thorne, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Quinn Shephard, and Rob Riggle.

10. Game Night

Week Five
Friday: $1.2 million
Weekend: $4.1 million
Total: $60.8 million

Max and Annie’s weekly game night gets kicked up a notch when Max’s brother Brooks arranges a murder mystery party — complete with fake thugs and federal agents. So when Brooks gets kidnapped, it’s all supposed to be part of the game. As the competitors set out to solve the case, they start to learn that neither the game nor Brooks are what they seem to be. The friends soon find themselves in over their heads as each twist leads to another unexpected turn over the course of one chaotic night.

Game Night stars Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams. The film is directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein.