Box Office Wrap Up: July 12-14

Top charting box office titles for July 14, 2013

Pacific Rim

Warner Bros.’ Pacific Rim, had solid reviews, a terrific CinemaScore of A- and opened with a better than expected $38.3 million for third place. One of the most talked about movies of the year, visionary director Guillermo del Toro brought his sc-fi epic to 3,275 theaters and nailed his biggest opening gross ever! Featuring a terrific cast including Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba and Rinko Kikuchi, the film boasts amazing special effects, tons of property damage and features a monsters vs. robots scenario (along with strong human character development) that will continue to bring fans to the multi-plex in the coming weeks. IMAX represented 19% of the film’s total domestic box office of $38.3 mil.

Despite Internet chatter and online buzz that had become the envy of the industry, the $190 million sci-fi opus Pacific Rim couldn’t out muscle the summer’s animated superstar and an Adam Sandler sequel at the box office this weekend.

Pacific Rim‘s failure, however, comes despite strong reviews and fan reaction. About 72% of critics liked the film, and so did 88% of moviegoers, rottentomatoes.com says.

But analysts say the online sound and fury surrounding the flick signified little in terms of ticket sales — just as last week’s campy Syfy original movie Sharknado exploded on Twitter but generated a mediocre 1.4 million viewers.

Grown ups 2

Although widely panned by critics, People came out in droves to see Grown up 2 to the tune of 42.5 million to capture the #2 spot which also happens to be Sandler’s Biggest opening in his career behind the remake of the longest yard.

Adam Sandler had never made a sequel before “Grown Ups 2,” which reunited him with many of his frequent collaborators from his Happy Madison Productions films, “Saturday Night Live” or both. Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade and even Taylor Lautner (!) lent their star power to the comedy, but it was Sandler who had the most on the line. The animated “Hotel Transylvania,” featuring the voices of Sandler, James and Spade (among others) made nearly $150 million last year. But Sandler needed a live-action hit on the heels of the subpar box-office business of “Jack and Jill” and “That’s My Boy.”

In the end, animated sequel “Despicable Me 2” took the #1 spot with an estimated $44.8 million. Featuring the voices of Steve Carell, Miranda Cosgrove, Kristen Wiig and 2012 MTV Movie Awards host Russell Brand, the movie has generated great reviews, big success abroad (it was #1 overseas as well) and managed to earn $229.2 million domestically in just 12 days.

If anyone has owned the summer, it’s the animated characters. “Monsters University,” Pixar’s 3-D prequel to “Monsters Inc.,” opened No. 1 against Brad Pitt’s “World War Z” and has earned over $400 million worldwide since its release on June 21. “Despicable Me 2” released on July 2, trounced “Lone Ranger,” and has picked up over $330 million internationally. The sequel also boasts the second-highest July 4 opening behind “Transformers” in 2007.