Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim failed to do monster business at the North American box office. The tentpole was beat by both Despicable Me 2 and Adam Sandler's ensemble comedy Grown Ups 2 in a major disappointment for Thomas Tull's Legendary Pictures.
Pacifc Rim grossed $38.3 million, a problematic number considering the movie's production budget of at least $190 million. Legendary footed most of the bill for the 3D title, with distribution and marketing partner Warner Bros. putting up a minority stake. IMAX theaters -- the favored venue for fanboys -- ponied up $17.3 million, or 23 percent of the gross.
Universal's box office hit Despicable 2 stayed at No. 1 in its second weekend, grossing $44.8 million for a domestic total of $229.2 million. The 3D animated tentpole has now earned north of $400 million worldwide.
ANALYSIS: What 'Pacific Rim's' Fate Means for Legendary and Warner Bros.
Sony's Grown Ups 2 took in a stellar $42.5 million in a needed win for Sandler, who has had a string of box office disappointments.
Despite being ravaged by critics, Grown Ups 2 received a B- CinemaScore , same as the 2010 original. The sequel, costing a relatively modest $80 million to produce, Sandler with Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, Salma Hayek, Maya Rudolph and Maria Bello.
Fox's Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy comedy The Heat placed No. 4 in its third weekend, jumping the $100 million mark and ending the weekend with a North American cume of $112.4 million.
Coming in No. 5 Friday was Gore Verbinski's troubled The Lone Ranger, which fell to $11.1 million in its second weekend for a tepid domestic cume of $77.1 million. Overseas, the big-budget tentpole took in a meek $12.7 million from 33 territories for an international total of $48 million and worldwide cume of $119.1 million. Lone Ranger has a number of major markets left to open in.
Marking del Toro's first big-budget tentpole, Pacific Rim pits giant robots against alien monsters and stars Charlie , Elba, and Charlie Day.
Defying soft prerelease tracking, Pacific Rim got off to a better-than-expected start Thursday night and Friday, but once fanboy traffic started tapering off late in the evening, the movie took a dip. Mirroring strong reviews, Pacific Rim received an A- CinemaScore.
Overseas, Pacific Rim launched to strong numbers in Asia, Russia and Mexico -- del Toro's home country -- though it fared dismally in Australia on Thursday, coming in No. 4 behind the the opening day of The Heat, Despicable Me 2 and Monsters University (the two animated films are benefiting from school holidays). It also was soft in the U.K.
Final weekend numbers have yet to be released, but Pacific Rim is expected to end the weekend with worldwide grosses north of $100 million.
VIDEO: 'Pacific Rim's' Guillermo del Toro on Box-Office Pressure, Planning a Sequel
So far internationally, the is outpacing a slew of films that went on to gross between $300 million and $400 million overseas, including Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Clash of the Titans and Prometheus. It's also pacing on par with World War Z, which has earned more than $200 million to date at the foreign box office.
Making headlines at the specialty box office in North America was The Weinstein Co.'s critically acclaimed Fruitvale Station, about the the shooting of a young African-American man by BART police in Oakland. The film -- opening just as George Zimmerman was acquitted of shooting Trayvon Martin -- grossed $377,285 from seven theaters for a location average of $53,898, the third best of the year so far.
Fruitvale star Michael B. Jordan and first-time feature Ryan Coogler have been vocal in comparing the two shootings, and the issues they raise.
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