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tomatometer:

46% Pacific Rim Uprising

97% Black Panther

67% I Can Only Imagine

21% Sherlock Gnomes

50% Tomb Raider
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35% Paul, Apostle of Christ

21% Midnight Sun

78% Unsane
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93% Isle Of Dogs

metacritic:

*click pic(s) for source*

‘Pacific Rim Uprising’ Conquers ‘Black Panther’ at Weekend Box Office

After weeks of speculating which film could slow “Black Panther’s” impressive roll, “Pacific Rim Uprising” took the top spot at the domestic box office.

Universal and Legendary’s “Pacific Rim Uprising” landed a respectable $28 million opening weekend at 3,708 locations. The monster battle movie has garnered mixed critical response, with a current 46% on Rotten Tomatoes. 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 is 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.

Still, in its sixth weekend “Black Panther” continues to be a powerhouse, nabbing the No. 2 spot with $17 million at 3,370 sites. That number lands “Black Panther” one of the seven highest sixth weekends in history. To date, the Marvel film has taken in $631 million, making it the fifth-highest all-time domestic grosses ahead of “The Avengers.”

“It had to happen at some point, and Universal’s ‘Pacific Rim Uprising’ now holds the distinction of being the film that took over ‘Black Panther’s’ long-standing position as king of the weekend box office mountain,” Paul Dergarabedian, a box office analyst at comScore, said. “The latest Disney superhero film has been an absolute marvel, holding onto the top spot for a whopping five weeks, while sprinting its way up the all-time charts and now stands as the fifth highest grossing film of all-time in North America and ranks twelfth globally after just 38 days in theaters.

Meanwhile, 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 story behind 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.

Following “I Can Only Imagine’s” success, biblical drama “Paul, Apostle of Christ” opened in line with estimates with $5 million at 1,473 sites over Palm Sunday weekend. The story follows James Faulkner as Saint Paul in his last days awaiting execution by Emperor Nero in Rome. Directed by Andrew Hyatt, the film also stars Jim Caviezel, Olivier Martinez, Joanne Whalley, and John Lynch.

Also opening this weekend was Paramount Pictures and MGM’s animated comedy “Sherlock Gnomes,” which saw $10 million at 3,662 locations. That’s significantly lower than initial tracking estimates between $13 million to $18 million. The sequel to 2011’s “Gnomeo & Juliet,” which reeled in $194 million worldwide, sees the petite pair recruiting detective Sherlock Gnomes and his sidekick, Gnome Watson, to investigate the mysterious disappearance of other garden gnomes. Directed by John Stevenson and executive produced by Elton John, it features the voices of James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mary J. Blige, and Johnny Depp.

The second weekend of Alicia Vikander’s “Tomb Raider” landed $10 million from 3,854 locations, bringing its grosses up to $41 million, while the second weekend of “Love, Simon” took in $7 million with $23 million to date.

Two smaller releases — Global Road Entertainment’s “Midnight Sun” and Bleecker Street and Fingerprint Releasing’s “Unsane” — debuted with $4 million and $3.6 million respectively.

Young adult romantic drama “Midnight Sun” stars Bella Thorne as a teen who has been sheltered at home since childhood due to a life-threatening sensitivity to sunlight. Steven Soderbergh’s psychological thriller “Unsane” sees Claire Foy as a troubled woman stalked by her ex. Joshua Leonard, Jay Pharoah, Juno Temple, Aimee Mullins, and Amy Irving round out the cast.

Rounding out the weekend, Wes Anderson’s “Isle of Dogs” opened with $1.5 million in limited release. The stop-motion animated film boasts a star-studded ensemble voice cast that includes Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Greta Gerwig, Frances McDormand, and Bob Balaban. Set in a dystopian futuristic Japan, dogs have been quarantined on a remote island due to a canine flu. A boy, Atari, ventures to the island to find his dog, Spots.

*click pic for full list/source*


*click pic for full list/source*

 

[Shouta]

Interesting, so PR2 is #1 this weekend? It's been getting pretty blah scores. I'm going to see it today though my expectations are low.

 

[Phoenix RISING]

Interesting, so PR2 is #1 this weekend? It's been getting pretty blah scores. I'm going to see it today though my expectations are low.

I said PR2 would be #1 its opening week. But BP would return the following week.

We'll see.


Also, NOBODY is talking about how well I Can Only Imagine is doing. WOW!

 

[tkscz]

Ouch on Tomb Raider and Wrinkle in Time. While I can see the latter being a slow burn and maybe making it to $100, the former is definitely going to bomb. At least locally, can't say for world wide.

 

[SoulUnison]

That's so weird. I love 2 Rim.

 

[Shouta]

I said PR2 would be #1 its opening week. But BP would return the following week.

We'll see.


Also, NOBODY is talking about how well I Can Only Imagine is doing. WOW!

Potentially. Panther has legs and it's a good film so I wouldn't be surprised if it came back to the #1 spot.

I just came back from Pacific Rim 2. I enjoyed it quite a bit, probably as much as I liked the first movie. It'd be for different reasons though. That said, it still has tons of problems. The story is really bare-bones and rushed to get to the action sequences in the film. The characters aren't given time to breath at all, which makes any sort of development for them feel hollow. Some of the jokes feel like they wanted to mimic the Marvel formula of injecting humor. I feel like I wasn't surprised by the action after seeing the trailers. So in many respects, I can understand the general reaction to it.

I kind of was expecting for this to happen so I actually was pretty OK with it. While bare-bones, it's snappy. Stuff happens as at a brisk pace and it doesn't get too overly complicated. The characters got just enough characterization to be likable. They aren't amazing or anything but at least the 2 main characters have a fairly distinct personality and rapport while some of the support ones do as well. The action is really damn good and manages to scratch that giant robot action itch well. There are a lot of great shots that show scale throughout the scenes and some great gimmicks to the robots themselves. The robots themselves have personality in their design and their fighting as well. The climax was fun and I loved what they did for it.

If I were to compare it to the original, I'd say it was less ambitious and less iconic but is a lot more polished when it comes to its action and it was more enjoyable seeing the characters interact. Del Toro not being at the helm is probably the big reason for it. I wouldn't say it's better or worse though. As a huge giant robot fan, It fits in a different slot than the original does.

 

[mckmas8808]

Why is A Wrinkle in Time and Black Panther in less markets than Red Sparrow and Tomb Raider?