After a nearly five-year wait, fans of the 2013 monster moviePacific Rimwill finally get a sequel whenPacific Rim Uprisinghits theaters on March 23. The sequel boasts some new faces like John Boyega as Jake Pentecost and some returning cast members like Rinko Kikuchi asMako Mori, but, if the first box office projections are accurate, this movie could come in far below its predecessor, which wasn’t a blockbuster itself at the domestic box office. The first long-range projections forPacific Rim: Uprisingput its opening weekend at just $20 million, with a projected domestic total of $49 million, less than half of the originalPacific Rim’s haul five years ago.
This long-range projection lists the casting of John Boyega asJake Pentecost, as one of the “pros” for this movie, since the actor is coming off of his blockbuster turns inStar Wars: The Force Awakensand last year’sStar Wars: The Last Jedi. This projection reveals that social media buzz among die-hard fans is strong, and there doesn’t expect to be any negative backlash for Steven S. DeKnight taking over as director after originalPacific Rimdirector Guillermo del Toro backed out. Here’s what the Pro Box Office staff had to say in their “Cons” section, detailing why the movie may not fare so well.
“The original Pacific Rim was a modest box office player in North America, and the nearly five-year wait may prove too long for Uprising to fully capitalize on the heat from that film’s fan support. Opening in betweenTomb RaiderandReady Player Onewill likewise cut into its target audience, but this is ultimately a sequel made more for overseas audiences, where the original film was a sizable hit, particularly in China.”
While the projection notes that this sequel does fall between two high-profile projects likeTomb RaiderandReady Player One, it waspushed to this 2018 release datein August, since it was originally slated to debut a month earlier on February 23, falling just one week after Marvel’s highly-anticipatedBlack Panther. We reported yesterday thatBlack Pantherwas projected to open between $100 million and $120 million, although Pro Box Office’s projections are even higher, at $133 million, so this release date shift was necessary. Still, dropping this movie into the very competitive month of March may not have been so wise either. Regardless, Legendary is already thinking big, with acinematic universebeing mapped out.
The cast ofPacific Rim: Uprisingalso includes Scott Eastwood as Jake Pentecost’s rivalJaeger pilot Nate Lambert, Charlie Day returning as Newton Geiszler, Tian Jing as Liwen Shao, Adria Arjona as Jules Reyes, and Burn Gorman returning as Dr. Hermann Gottlieb. Even ifPacific Rim: Uprisingdoes tank in the U.S., it could be “saved,” so to speak, by the Chinese box office. The originalPacific Rimearned $101.8 million at the domestic box office and $111.9 million in China, over a third of its $309.2 million international haul. While we continue the countdown towardsPacific Rim: Uprising’s release, take a look at the long-range projections fromPro.BoxOffice.com.
