Giant robots topple Panther
NEW YORK — It took six weeks, but Black Panther has finally been unseated as the top film at the North American box office. The monsters vs. robots sciencefiction sequel Pacific Rim: Uprising dethroned the superhero sensation with $28 million in ticket sales over the weekend, according to studio estimates.
But the result for Pacific Rim: Uprising, a Universal Pictures Legendary Entertainment release that cost $150 million to make, was soft — at least domestically. Like the recently released Tomb Raider, its biggest business was in China. Pacific Rim: Uprising debuted there with $65 million for Legendary, which the Chinese conglomerate Wanda Group acquired in 2016.
And even though Black Panther slid to second place with $16.7 million in its sixth weekend, Ryan Coogler’s film notched another box-office milestone. It’s now the highest-grossing superhero film ever in North America, not accounting for inflation. The film’s $631 million in domestic ticket sales has surpassed the $623 million of 2012’s The Avengers. Black Panther also becomes the fifth highest grossing film of all-time, rising above Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
Yet the record-breaking hit of Black Panther has been followed by a string of lacklustre performers, including Tomb Raider, A Wrinkle in Time and Red Sparrow. Pacific Rim: Uprising might have taken down the champ, but a blockbuster heir to Black Panther is yet to be found. Next weekend, Steven Spielberg will try with his big-budget virtualreality spectacle Ready Player One.
Hollywood has essentially already squandered the early lead Black Panther gave it. Despite the firepower of Black Panther, the year is running almost three per cent behind 2017 at U.S and Canada theatres, according to comScore. This weekend was down 36.5 per cent from last year when Beauty and the Beast was in its second week and the surprisingly successful Power Rangers debuted.
“One movie isn’t enough to support a whole marketplace,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for comScore. “We need a real shot in the arm here. Pacific Rim, that’s a fine opening. But we need bigger numbers to be put up.”
Warner Bros.’ Tomb Raider reboot, starring Alicia Vikander, dropped steeply in its second week, sliding 56 per cent with $10.4 million.
MGM and Paramount Pictures’ animated family sequel Sherlock Gnomes disappointed with a $10.6-million debut. Forecasts had been higher for the sequel to Gnomeo & Juliet, which grossed $194 million worldwide in 2011.
The results were also modest for Steven Soderbergh’s Unsane, a psychological thriller starring Claire Foy (The Crown) that the director shot with iPhones. The Bleecker Street-Fingerprint Releasing film opened with $3.9 million in 2,023 theatres. Though both were inexpensively made, neither of Soderbergh’s first two films following his brief retirement from Hollywood has made a dent at the box office.
But there were also bright spots. The Christian drama I Can Only Imagine held especially strongly in its second weekend. The Lionsgate-Roadside Attractions release grossed $13.8 million, bringing its twoweek total to $38.5 million. I Can Only Imagine has emerged as the clear faith-based film of choice ahead of Easter, likely to the detriment of Paul: Apostle of Christ, which took in $5 million this weekend for Sony’s Affirm Films.
And in limited release, Wes Anderson’s stop-motion animated Isle of Dogs got off to a healthy start with $1.6 million in 27 theatres. Fox Searchlight, coming off its best-picture win at the Academy Awards for The Shape of Water, carefully selected the opening-weekend theatres to cater to Anderson’s die-hard fans.
Anderson is coming off the biggest box-office hit of his career. The Grand Budapest Hotel grossed $175 million worldwide in 2014. Isle of Dogs, about a Japanese island of misfit canines in a future dystopia, has been received with nearly equal fanfare. Critics gave it a 93 per cent fresh Rotten Tomatoes score.