Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Uprising tames Black Panther
LOS ANGELES — For the first time in six weeks, Disney’s juggernaut Black Panther has been knocked from the top box office spot with the debut of Universal’s Pacific Rim: Uprising.
The big-budget sci-fi sequel estimated to have cost $155 million, came in with about $28.1 million in domestic grosses.
Directed by Steven S. DeKnight, Uprising — which takes place in a world where humans pilot giant fighting machines to save the world from otherworldly monsters — earned a B rating on Cinema Score and a 46 percent rotten rating on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes. Even at No. 2, Black Panther continued to shatter records.
The film, which added $17 million to its domestic grosses over the weekend, has now earned about $631 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters, making it the top-grossing superhero film of all time in North America.
Roadside Attractions’ faith-based film I Can Only Imagine continued to perform in its second week, maintaining the No. 3 spot and adding $13.6 million in ticket sales for about $38 million.
Starring Dennis Quaid and J. Michael Finley, the film follows the lead singer of the Christian band Mercy Me during his process of writing “I Can Only Imagine,” the mostplayed radio hit in Christian music history.
In fourth place, Paramount/MGM’s Sherlock Gnomes opened with $10.6 million.
The computer-animated cartoon is a follow-up to 2011’s Gnomeo and Juliet, which was
distributed under Disney’s Touchstone label. The film came in under analysts’ predictions of $15 million, much lower than the $25 million debut of the original.
Sherlock Gnomes earned mixed reviews from audiences and critics with a B-plus rating on Cinema Score and a 21 percent rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Rounding out the top five, Warner Bros.’ Tomb Raider dropped three spots since last week and added $10.1 million in its second weekend, a 56 percent decline, for a total of $41.4 million.
Other newcomers over the weekend include Affirm Films’ Paul, Apostle of Christ, which debuted at No. 8 with about $5.2 million, on par with analysts’ predictions of $4 million to $9 million. Paul cost an estimated $5 million to make and stars James Faulkner and Jim Caviezel. It earned a 35 percent rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Open Road’s romantic teen tear-jerker Midnight Sun, also new over the weekend, came in at the low end of analysts’ expectations with about $4 million in the No. 10 spot. Starring Bella Thorne, the film earned mixed reviews with audiences and critics, with an A-minus rating on Cinema Score and a 21 percent rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Bleecker Street’s Unsane was the only other widerelease newcomer over the weekend, opening with about $3.8 million. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, the thriller stars Claire Foy (The Crown) as a young woman who is involuntarily committed to a mental institution. It earned a B-minus rating on Cinema Score and a 78 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.