"Pacific Rim tanks at box office" Topic

Well, don't expect Pacific Rim 2: It came in third on its opening weekend, behind Adam "I'm not funny" Sandler's Grown Ups 2.

However, there is a bright spot:

The movie took in $53 USD million from 38 markets outside the U.S. and Canada, representing about half its overseas footprint. It has yet to open in China or Japan, the home of the movie's co-star, Rinko Kikuchi.

Warner Bros. said the debut of "Pacific Rim" in several countries such as Russia and South Korea was better than that other films that have gone on to gross more than $300 USD million internationally, like "Transformers 2" and "Prometheus."

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Yes, but Pacific Rim has more staying power than Adam Sandler.

I think that no one involved with Pacific Rim is going to be crying over this weekends performance.

I hope you're right, but opening weekend is critical for big summertime movies.

Saw it yesterday. Decent enough action/adventure movie.
Any more if I don't feel ripped off for the tickets, that's high praise from me :)

Saw it last night and it was a FANTASTIC Kaiju movie! If you love Godzilla then you HAVE GOT TO SEE THIS! With that all said, I kind of hope they do not do a sequel. The storyline seems to have ended cleanly and perhaps its for the best if they do not do a sequel. Then again that's just my opinion. I've seen too many great (or at least good) movies get ruined in the sequelization process. Hollywierd, ya did good here, let's not push it ok?

I just about never go see movies on opening weekends anymore. I'd really prefer to wait out the crowds and go on a matinee sometime… or more likely wait to watch it at home in peace.
That said, Pacific Rim seems like the sort of thing I'd want to see with a big audience and all their hootin' and hollerin'.

Meanwhile, I'd rather give colonics to giant monsters than go see an Adam Sandler movie.

The heck it is! I went down to the first showing on Friday, and bought a ticket for the 3D showing.

Ok, so there's only one 2D showing per day. Plus, I usually go on Tuesday because of the matinee discounts.

Saw it, LOVED it. It was everything it promised to be and no more. Also not sure I agree with the ranking in that article; I've seen others that rank it as an ok, not great, opening weekend.

EDIT: It did better than the Lone Ranger, at any rate.

-Will

I kind of expected the mediocre box office results. Kaiju only has a niche fanboy cult following in the US, but it is more mainstream overseas, and not just in Asia. How PR does internationally will be much more telling.

Just to add a little more perspective (since this stuff interests me), if I'm reading things right the total international take for Pacific Rim is on the opening weekend is 91.3 million, and it still hasn't opened in most of Europe or China, which is the big one (and the movie was clearly designed to play well to China). It was budgeted at 180 million, so another 90 million after it opens in the next two big markets is definitely possible, and after that it's paid for itself. Most tracking I've seen indicate a total of 300 million is expected, which means the movie has made a decent profit, even if it wasn't a blockbuster.

-Will

This earlier thread might interest you then, Will.

TMP link

From what I've heard, the studio at first was hoping for a $50 USD+ million domestic opening weekend. They lowered expectations down to $40 USD to $50 USD million after initial tracking data indicated that it may not do so well. PR is hard to track because the demographic it's aimed at (younger males) is hard to predict.

The movie will have to roughly double its $180 USD million budget to be considered a 'success,' since it doesn't include marketing costs and studios only take 50 percent of box office receipts.

It can still be done though. PR should be HUGE in Asia.

I've seen little TV advertising for it here in the US, or have I just been missing the campaign? I will admit I watch little network TV anymore.

You definitely missed it, because they've been playing the heck out of the commercials for it for weeks and weeks.

There's quite a lot of hype about it here in HK. Posters are up all over the mtr (underground) stations, and the younger guys at work are all pretty keen to see it. Predict a big hit in Asia.

Interesting. At least half-a-dozen showings sold out at local theaters this weekend, and the theater was packed at my showing.

I agree that a sequel is unnecessary. A prequel could be cool, though.

I remember seeing the first bits about this film and wondering how it would do. People were gushing about it, but it didn't have a big name or something for the US public to latch onto other than that it was a Transformers knockoff or a Godzilla retread for those who still know that film exists. Also the lack of a big name actor attached to it probably didn't help either. I really like GdT, but PR felt more like a fanboy vanity project than a box office contender.

The issue here isn't really a sequel. If the movie performs very badly, Guillermo del Toro won't be in such a good position to direct the things he wants to make. If it does well, then we might finally see "At the Mountains of Madness" green-lit.

Game designer Hideo Kojima loved it. He posted a brief review on Twitter on 5 July 2013:

Dear twitter friends, The followings are my comment regarding "Pacific Rim". Luckily I was allowed to tweet in public by WB. I have never imagined that I would be fortunate enough to see a film like this in my life. The emotional rush I had inside me was the same kind I had when I felt the outer space via "2001: A Space Odyssey" and…. and when I had touched the dinosaur in "Jurassic Park". Animation and special effects movies and shows that I loved in my childhood days – they all truly exist in the screen. Director Guillermo del Toro offers this spectacular vision of massive kaijus and robots in PACIFIC RIM. This film is not simply a film to be respected, but most importantly, it let us dream the future of entertainment movies. Pacific Rim is the ultimate otaku film that all of us had always been waiting for. Who are you, if you are Japanese and won't watch this? I hope you would accept this inspirational love letter that had traveled across the Pacific, written by Director Guillermo del Toro.

I have edited together eight Tweets for clarity; you can also read them here:

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Ron

OP, you have no idea what the term "tanked" means, judging by your post.
-Kle.

The movie will have to roughly double its $180 USD USD million budget to be considered a 'success,' since it doesn't include marketing costs and studios only take 50 percent of box office receipts.

Ah, good point; so it's going to have do better than projections in order to break even. It will be interesting to see what happens when it opens in China in two weeks.

-Will

WWZ did about the same and the powers that be thought it was a big hit and started talking about a 2nd movie.

I thought it was pretty good for a summer action movie, but it was going up against Despicable Me 2, which is still doing very well and the theaters(at least in this area) had some weird show times. My guess is that the need to schedule some 3D performances throws off the other start times, so if you don't like 3D or don't want to pay extra for it, you had limited choices to see it this weekend. An example is the theaters near my home had it at 12:25 and 6:30 on Saturday, so you needed to work your schedule around those times, which isn't always easy with a few 3D performances in between.

I think it is obvious that del Toro knows where the "money" market is (not the U.S.) with Pacific Rim based on all of the choices that were made for the film from the setting, to the casting, to the naming.

-Ken
Radioactive Press

It just makes me nuts that Grown Ups 2 did better than Pacific Rim.

Just one quote from a reviewer of Grown Ups 2:

"There are NOT enough adjectives in the English language to describe this vile, disgusting excuse for a movie. If I can stop even one person from paying to see this, then I have done my job!"

And its not just this reviewer as it got 7% on the Tomatometer compared to Pacific Rim at 72%.

Another point to note: the theater I saw Pacific Rim at it has a total of only 4 showings per day on two screens. Thats only 2 showings per show per screen per day. In another theater owned by the same chain, they are showing Grown Ups 2 on one screen but…wait for it….9 times! And looking futher you see that this trend is repeated again and again: 9 to 12 showings a day for Grown Ups 2 and Pacific Rim 2 to 6 showing per day.

What the….?!

Any more if I don't feel ripped off for the tickets, that's high praise from me :)

I couldn't have put it better. For a movie about special effects it was pretty good.

> I saw Pacific Rim at it has a total of only 4 showings per day on two screens

I believe the theater has to pay per showing. Is the movie showing in 3D and 2D, if so that explains the 2 screens, if not they may have thought it would only play at a certain time of day and tried to maximize that time.

What the….?!

Exactly. Here's the showtimes link right now at my local AMC 20-screen multi-plex. It shows that 'Pacific Rim' is shown 8 times per day, 4 times in 2D and 4 in IMAX 3D. 'Grown Ups 2' is shown 10 times per day, while the #1 movie in America 'Despicable Me 2' in its second full week is shown 18 times per day (both 2 and 3D). No wonder the little yellow minions are ruling the world. They are funny, though.

Granted, 'Pacific Rim' at over 2 hours is longer than the other movies, but fewer showings per day isn't going to help its total gross at the end of the day.

I saw it in 3D Saturday night. Best $13 USD I've spent all year. I was surprised that the story was actually good too. The origin of the Kaiju was one of the most underused tropes as well. I was greatly pleased by that.

Another you need to look at is the number of theaters showing each movie.

Despicable Me 2: 3,997
Grown Ups 2: 3,491
Pacific Rim: 3,275

When you take into account the number of showings per movie per day and number of theaters showing each movie, it kind of seems like Pacific Rim was going to have a hard time getting in the top 2.

I also think its too early to call it a bomb until the movie has opened in all markets.

-Ken
Radioactive Press

Saw it, loved it. My wife, who is less a kaiju and mecha fan than I, liked it as well. She wants to get it on BluRay when it comes out, that's a thumbs up for her. I will say I liked it better than The Lone Ranger, and I'm a Jonny Depp fan.

Movie did well enough that they have already green-lighted development of a sequel. Del Toro even spilled the beans, in an interview, providing some concepts they are looking at exploring for the sequel.

-Eli

Worldwide: $224,026,000 USD

:)

$9,000,000 USD record opening day in China

link

-Ken
Radioactive Press

I saw PR last night (second time) and the theater was more crowded than when I saw it opening day.

I'm hoping it does well enough to get a sequel or even that other similar films get made (Monsterpocalypse?).

Was just about to post- we need to edit the post title to Pacific Rim does NOT tank at box office. ;)

Sounds like a sequel is reasonably likely now.

-Will

Yea waaay late here.. but just stumbled across the Thread.

How can anybody realy think Adam Sandler is funny… well To Each Their Own to be fair I respect that.
The Only bit he ever did I thought was funny; "Cajun Man" All else must made my teeth hurt.

Pacific Rim: A buddy loaned me his copy, loved it now have my own. I have not been to a theater in.. a decade, at least? wow time has flown.

I would love to see a Good Sequel.. but that right there tends to cancel that out. Most sequels do good just to get a "all in all its a pretty good movie" comment from most people.
I think Hollywood just trys to crank out a sequel too fast (strike while the irons hot) and they are eager to give you their money.

Well its been 3 yrs.. so not likely now..but you never know.

A sequel is in the works, 2018 IIRC.

Yep, sequel is definitely on the way for 2018.

Absolutely love Pacific Rim. Saw it three times in the theater and countless times on video. I own the tie-in comic and novel and "art of" as well. No toys though. :)

I am looking forward to the sequel despite is having different writers, director, etc. If it's half as good as the original it'll be great.

I'm hoping that Pacific Rim snuggles securely into the Legendary "MonsterVerse". I wasn't a huge fan of Godzilla from a few years ago (or Shin Godzilla). Looking forward to Kong: Skull Island.

Highland Samurai 1987
Yep, sequel is definitely on the way for 2018.

Now THAT will be something to see.
IF they follow through.

Trailer for the second movie has been posted!

pacificrimmovie.com

It also looks like Bandai is releasing vinyl figures of the kaiju! I may have to add some Pacific Rim figures to my demo set up for Giant Monster Rampage.

-Ken
Radioactive Press

That's cool news about Bandai, hopefully they scale somewhat close to the clix versions from the original (or re-do them as gashapons). The clix also missed one or two of the kaiju from the original (including the other one from the attack on Hong Kong IIRC).

@ boy wundyr x: The Bandai vinyl figures will be around 8" tall. There hasn't been any mention of a gashapon set, but I wouldn't rule one out.

-Ken
Radioactive Press