Weekend Box Office (July 12 - 14, 2013)
THIS WEEKEND Two studios head into battle with new summer projects aimed at generating different types of fun. Warner Bros. unleashes its monster movie Pacific Rim while Sony counters with its comedy sequel Grown Ups 2. Meanwhile, the animated giant Despicable Me 2 will still be a major force as it tries to hold on to its box office crown.
Kaiju and Jaegers duke it out in the main event with the sci-fi pic Pacific Rim targeting genre fans who haven't had enough action yet this summer. The PG-13 film from director Guillermo del Toro is set in the near future and delivers an original story against all the sequels and brands that have been dominating the action world this summer. Strong trailers have generated excitement with the core audience, although crossover potential to other segments will be tough. Terrific reviews from critics will certainly help.
As an original property with no stars the opening weekend should not soar as high as other big ticket items from this season. But adrenaline junkies will make it out and Rim will skew more male. 3D and IMAX venues will add some more coin. Marketing hype has been solid and no other action title will break $20M this weekend. Opening in 3,275 theaters, Pacific Rim might debut to about $38M starting with its first shows at 7:00pm Thursday night.
For those in the mood for mindless, familiar, check-your-brain-at-the-door entertainment, the king returns as Adam Sandler headlines an all-star cast in the comedy offering Grown Ups 2. Amazingly this is the funnyman's first big sequel as he has always strived to deliver original stories with each trip to the multiplex. Most of the cast from the first film is back including Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, and Salma Hayek.
The first Grown Ups opened well to $40.5M in June 2010 and had decent legs that summer finishing with $162M. His live-action films have struggled since then not reaching his usual range as audiences have tired of his brand of humor. So this weekend's sequel should bring him back closer to his former numbers thanks to the brand and the extra starpower.
However, audiences have not exactly been petitioning to get another chapter of this story. And there will be plenty of competition with Pacific Rim taking away many males and Steve Carell's Despicable Me 2 playing broadly to the comedy crowd. There could be an opportunity with adult women looking for light humor, though. Critics, as usual, are getting in their annual Sandler-bashing exercises this week. Crashing into more than 3,000 theaters, Grown Ups 2 might take in about $31M this weekend.
Another sequel to a hit film from the summer of 2010 hopes to make it two in a row on top as the animated powerhouse Despicable Me 2 expects to roll into its second weekend with about $185M in its evil bank. Buzz is strong, no new kidpics are opening, and it debuted mid-week last week so the sophomore decline should not be too high. A 45% decline might be in order putting Gru and pals at about $46M for the frame boosting the cume to a staggering $231M.
The big-budget adventure The Lone Ranger should fade away quickly as buzz is evaporating fast and most of the conversation on it is on the negative side. Disney might suffer a 55% tumble to around $13M pushing the total to $74M. Fox's hit action-comedy The Heat should fare better slipping 35% to about $16M with a sum to date of $114M.
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LAST YEAR Opening at number one was the summer toon Ice Age: Continental Drift which was made more for the expected international gold mine. The Fox hit bowed to $46.6M on its way to a good $161.3M domestic run which accounted for only a measly 18% of the mammoth $877M global tally. Super hero reboot The Amazing Spider-Man led the rest of the top five which was filled by holdovers with $34.6M cracking $200M in the process. Universal's Ted followed with $22.4M, Disney toon Brave grossed $11.2M, and fellow single-word-titled pic Savages took in $9.4M for Universal.
This column is updated three times each week: Thursday (upcoming weekend's summary), Sunday (post-weekend analysis with estimates), and Monday night (actuals). Opinions expressed in this column are those solely of the author.
Last Updated: July 11, 2013 at 12:50PM ET
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