This upcoming summer is jam-packed with sequels, reboots and superheroes (Oh my!...sorry). And among the heavy competition, Pacific Rim: Uprising is just one of the films looking to make an impact. Despite starring John Boyega, the giant robot sequel has just not seemed to build up much hype for its upcoming release. That more or less tracks with the first Pacific Rim, which didn't have a very strong performance domestically. Unfortunately, a new report is predicting that things will be even worse for Uprising, which is tracking to earn about half of Pacific Rim's total domestic debut.
According to BoxOfficePro, Pacific Rim Uprising is tracking to open domestically for a three-day weekend total of $20 million. Comparatively, Pacific Rim opened to $37.3 million, creating a pretty sizable gap between the two movies. Sequels sometimes don't make as much money as the first movie in a franchise, but they often do make more money, making these numbers surprising. In addition, the overall projection in terms of the domestic total for Uprising is at just $50 million. That's about half of Pacific Rim's overall domestic gross of $101 million.
Should the report prove true, those numbers certainly don't look good for Pacific Rim Uprising, but there are a few factors to consider. First, Uprising was likely never really expected to open big in the states. The true source of the original film's success came mostly from overseas, where it scored $300 million. This is Uprising's real target market. The above report only predicts the domestic performance, so we'll have to wait and see how the sequel plays internationally. Still, a movie that cost $150 million to make doing poorly in the U.S. is probably not good news for the studio.
As for why the numbers are as low as they are, one reason could be that it's been five years since the first Pacific Rim. That's a long time, and the gap doesn't create much urgency to see this sequel. Plus, the original didn't hold much box office weight to begin with. We also have to consider that there isn't much buzz right now, and wider audience members don't seem particularly impressed by the trailers.
It also doesn't help matters that March is a packed month of high-profile movies. Disney's highly anticipated A Wrinkle in Time plays two weeks before Uprising, and Tomb Raider comes one week after that. Then, a week after its own release, Uprising will have to contend with Ready Player One. That's some tough competition, and it will be difficult for Uprising to make an impact when its surrounded on all sides like this.
We'll see how accurate this report ends up becoming when Pacific Rim Uprising arrives in theaters on March 23, 2018.
