Universal’s “Pacific Rim: Uprising” arrived in theaters on Thursday night, making $2.35 million from Thursday preview screenings.
The sequel to Guillermo del Toro’s 2013 film will open at 3,700 locations nationwide this weekend, and is expected to finally knock “Black Panther” off the top spot on the weekend charts. However, the $150 million blockbuster will need strong overseas performance, as it is expected to open to just $25 million domestically. The first “Pacific Rim” opened to $37.2 million, with $3.6 million made from previews.
Taking place a decade after the first film, “Pacific Rim: Uprising” follows Jake Pentecost (John Boyega), son of Stacker Pentecost, the leader of the anti-kaiju forces who sacrificed his life to stop their invasion of Earth. Now monsters are starting to return to Earth, forcing Jake to live up to his father’s name and stop both the monsters and the traitor that allowed them to return in the first place.
DeKnight is directing from a script co-written by Emily Carmichael, Kira Snyder, and T.S. Nowlin. Scott Eastwood, Cailee Spaeny, Jing Tian, and Adria Arjona star in the film, with Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, and Burn Gorman returning from the original film. The series made the jump from WB to Universal after Legendary Pictures signed a five-year distribution deal with Universal in 2014.