Uprising tames Black Panther

Gnomeo (James McAvoy), Sherlock Gnomes (Johnny Depp) and Juliet (Emily Blunt) are among the stars of Sherlock Gnomes, the follow-up to the 2011 film Gnomeo and Juliet. The film came in fourth at last weekend’s box office and made about $10.6 million.
Gnomeo (James McAvoy), Sherlock Gnomes (Johnny Depp) and Juliet (Emily Blunt) are among the stars of Sherlock Gnomes, the follow-up to the 2011 film Gnomeo and Juliet. The film came in fourth at last weekend’s box office and made about $10.6 million.

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.

"Obviously we're always pleased to open at No. 1," said Jim Orr, Universal's distribution chief, "and to do it under these circumstances is fantastic."

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.

Uprising follows Guillermo del Toro's 2013 original Pacific Rim, which was a relative disappointment in the United States with a $102 million domestic take.

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 CinemaScore 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.

Black Panther is only one of seven films to ever earn $600 million or more domestically. The film spent five weeks at No. 1 in North America, a streak that had not been achieved since James Cameron's 2009 blockbuster Avatar. It has grossed about $1.2 billion worldwide.

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 MercyMe during his process of writing I Can Only Imagine, the most-played 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 CinemaScore 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 CinemaScore and a 21 percent rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Bleecker Street's thriller Unsane was the only other wide-release newcomer over the weekend, opening with about $3.8 million. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, the R-rated 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 CinemaScore and a 78 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

In limited release, Fox Searchlight's animated Isle of Dogs opened in 27 theaters with an impressive $1.6 million, a per-screen average of $59,825.

Directed by Wes Anderson, the film, which is set in Japan, features a voice cast including Bryan Cranston, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Liev Schreiber and Yoko Ono. It was a hit with critics, earning a 93 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

This week, Pure Flix premieres the faith drama God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness and Lionsgate opens the thriller Acrimony starring Taraji P. Henson.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Sunday by comScore:

  1. Pacific Rim: Uprising, Universal, $28,116,535, 3,708 locations, $7,583 average, $28,116,535, 1 week.

  2. Black Panther, Disney, $17,099,618, 3,370 locations, $5,074 average, $631,357,854, 6 weeks.

  3. I Can Only Imagine, Roadside Attractions, $13,604,521, 2,255 locations, $6,033 average, $38,084,012, 2 weeks.

  4. Sherlock Gnomes, Paramount/MGM, $10,604,774, 3,662 locations, $2,896 average, $10,604,774, 1 week.

  5. Tomb Raider, Warner Bros., $10,102,616, 3,854 locations, $2,621 average, $41,420,724, 2 weeks.

  6. A Wrinkle in Time, Disney, $8,215,492, 3,423 locations, $2,400 average, $74,058,099, 3 weeks.

  7. Love, Simon, 20th Century Fox, $7,607,451, 2,434 locations, $3,125 average, $23,503,052, 2 weeks.

  8. Paul, Apostle of Christ, Affirm Films, $5,172,585, 1,473 locations, $3,512 average, $5,172,585, 1 week.

  9. Game Night, Warner Bros., $4,131,191, 1,866 locations, $2,214 average, $60,784,726, 5 weeks.

  10. Midnight Sun, Open Road, $4,003,993, 2,173 locations, $1,843 average, $4,003,993, 1 week.

  11. Unsane, Bleecker Street, $3,762,145, 2,023 locations, $1,860 average, $3,762,145, 1 week.

  12. Peter Rabbit, Columbia, $2,538,560, 2,071 locations, $1,226 average, $106,805,275, 7 weeks.

  13. Red Sparrow, 20th Century Fox, $2,248,846, 1,482 locations, $1,517 average, $44,044,846, 4 weeks.

  14. Strangers: Prey at Night, Aviron Pictures, $2,062,768, 1,480 locations, $1,394 average, $22,201,687, 3 weeks.

  15. Isle of Dogs, Fox Searchlight, $1,615,269, 27 locations, $59,825 average, $1,615,269, 1 week.

  16. Death Wish, MGM, $1,218,524, 1,304 locations, $934 average, $32,616,646, 4 weeks.

  17. The Death of Stalin, IFC Films, $1,006,829, 141 locations, $7,141 average, $2,037,252, 3 weeks.

  18. Annihilation, Paramount, $898,364, 478 locations, $1,879 average, $31,416,769, 5 weeks.

  19. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Columbia, $847,706, 1,022 locations, $829 average, $401,666,156, 14 weeks.

  20. The Greatest Showman, 20th Century Fox, $696,403, 478 locations, $1,457 average, $170,945,091, 14 weeks.

MovieStyle on 03/30/2018

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