Despicable Me 2 continues to dominate the box office, while Adam Sandler’s Grown Ups 2 and director Guillermo del Toro’s original sci-fi, Pacific Rim, have lukewarm openings.
Grown Ups 2 came in second this weekend, pulling in a solid $42.5 million. All of its box office comes from the U.S., as it didn’t open anywhere else in the world this weekend, taming its worldwide total.
It received an abysmal 7% on Rottentomatoes, so it should see a massive drop off next weekend.
This could be bad news for Sandler and the rest of his comedy crew, as the film had a budget of over $80 million, and if they don’t open in foreign markets, their U.S. totals will most likely end up bringing in a little less than $80 million by the time it exits theaters.
What was more surprising this weekend was Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim, which was set to be a monster hit this summer. It had great reviews leading up to its release this weekend, and more importantly, it wasn’t a sequel. We were hoping to see big numbers from this original film, but sadly the sequels come out on top once again.
Pacific Rim could see some larger numbers as it spreads outside the U.S.; it opened in foreign markets to $58 million, while it only saw $38.3 million at the domestic box office. We look forward to seeing more original films like Pacific Rim doing well at the box office in the future.
On a $190 million dollar budget, Pacific Rim was a fairly big gamble. A studio finally gave director Guillermo del Toro a chance with a big budget film, and it looks like he brought in a solid film. The film currently holds a 71% on Rottentomatoes, and the reviews have been very favorable, especially for an original sci-fi not based on a novel.
The Heat, starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy continued to do well, pulling in just over $14 million. With a budget of only $43 million, The Heat has enjoyed fairly decent reviews, which has lead to it pulling in a worldwide total of $128 million, an impressive total for a small budget comedy.
Johnny Depp’s, The Lone Ranger, had another poor outing at the box office this weekend. Pulling in a paltry $11 million, it has only pulled in a worldwide total of $119 million on a $250 million dollar budget. This film can be called nothing other than a massive box office flop. Disney will be writing off $200-300 million or more when the final numbers roll in.
Depp’s last few films have been box office flops, and we imagine he’ll go back to doing what he does best. He’ll be appearing in Pirates 5, along with returning to his role as The Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland 2. Hopefully he’ll throw a non-sequel in there as well, as we’d love to see him not stuck repeating his crazy franchise characters.