I admit it in advance, this is sort of a forced, feel-good story that will probably change in the next few days, but hey, what do you have against feeling good, f*ckface? The past few weeks, the official line was that Grown Ups 2 was tracking better than Pacific Rim and Pacific Rim was poised for a trouncing, based on scientific polls taken by bored interns of out-of-work mouth breathers at the mall. But at least as far as Thursday night totals are concerned, a Grown Ups 2 victory seems less certain.
Fanboys showed up in large numbers Thursday night to see Guillermo del Toro’s “Pacific Rim,” which opened to $3.6 million in late screenings, matching the performance of recent box office surprise “World War Z.”
The numbers are better-than-expected for Warner Bros. and Legendary’s expensive sci-fi tentpole with the real test being Friday and Saturday. Decent midnight grosses, since their often so heavily fanboy driven, rarely paint an accurate picture as to just how big an upside the film will earn. But if a film craters with late-nights, it’s doomed to underperform. That won’t be the case with “Pacific Rim.”
Sony and Adam Sandler’s “Grown Ups 2,” this weekend’s other wide release, earned a solid $2.3 million Thursday night and is still expected to beat, if not match, “Pacific Rim’s” debut in the U.S. [Variety]
Shouldn’t that be “match, if not beat?” Either way, let’s enjoy the small victories while we still can. And yes, if you read my Pacific Rim review you know I didn’t like it very much, but that doesn’t mean I want the Adam Sandler deer-piss gay panic fart festival featuring Shaquille O’Neal to beat it, I’m not a goddamn monster.
As always, no one sums it up better than South Park.