‘Pacific Rim’ Beat ‘Smurfs 2′ in Overseas Upset; ’2 Guns’ Dominates Domestically

Michael Sullivan

With a record-breaking bow in China, Warner Bros.’ “Pacific Rim” beat out overseas box office favorite “The Smurfs 2″ by a hair to take first in the international marketplace.

Sony’s live action-toon hybrid took first globally with $80.3 million, $27.8 million from Stateside auds and $52.5 million from 43 overseas markets. Meanwhile, “Pacific Rim” earned $53 million abroad, about $45.2 million of which came from China, pushing the film’s foreign cume to $200 million.

Domestically, “Smurfs 2″ opened Wednesday to earn as much in five days in release as Universal’s “2 Guns” earned in three. The R-rated actioner bowed to $27.4 million, a nice start for a film budgeted close to $60 million.

SEE ALSO: Film Review: ‘The Smurfs 2′

Fox’s “The Wolverine” took second Friday-to-Sunday with $21.7 million, an almost 60% week-over-week drop, followed by “Smurfs 2,” which earned $18.2 million in three days.

“Wolverine” also had a good soph sesh abroad dropping 56% to $38.5 million. The “X-Men” spinoff’s worldwide cume is at $255 million to date.

“The Smurfs,” 2011′s predecessor to this week’s newcomer, spent eight weeks on top of the int’l box office and earned 75% of its lifetime cume from overseas plexes. Will “Smurfs 2″ see similar numbers? Sony distribution topper Rory Bruer thinks so.

“We have little blue guys running around every corner of the planet,” Bruer said, noting that the franchise is still endearing domestic auds, just in lower numbers.

Though “Smurfs 2″ opened higher than its predecessor in markets like Russia and Korea, overall the foreign bow was down 4% from “Smurfs,” and it didn’t hit the studio’s $100 million global weekend goal.

Bruer attributed the sequel’s softer Stateside bow to a market saturated with family fare, including recent 3D toons from Pixar, Illumination and DreamWorks Animation.

The overall business was up about 13% over this frame last year, helped largely by “2 Guns.” The actioner played strongly to African American and Latino communities, and exit polls indicated the chemistry between stars Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg is resonating with audiences.

“2 Guns” is already U’s seventh number one film in 2013.

Sony Picture Classics expanded Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine” from six to 50 screens this frame, bumping its weekend haul up 230% to $2 million.

Domestic

Film (Weeks in release): 3-day gross*; Locations; Per-theater average; Cume*; Percentage change

  1. 2 Guns (1): $27.4; 3,025; $9,045; $27.4; –

  2. The Wolverine (2): $21.7; 3,924; $5,536; $95.0; -59%

  3. The Smurfs 2 (1): $18.2; 3,866; $4,708; $27.8; –

  4. The Conjuring (3): $13.7; 3,115; $4,385; $108.6; -38%

  5. Despicable Me 2 (5): $10.4; 3,207; $3,240; $326,7; -37%

  6. Grown Ups 2 (4): $8.1; 3,075; $2,634; $116.4; -30%

  7. Turbo (3): $6.4; 2,985; $2,144; $69.5; -53%

  8. Red 2 (3): $5.7; 2,755; $2,051; $45.2; -40%

  9. The Heat (6): $4.7; 2,074; $2,278; $149.6; -32%

  10. Pacific Rim (4): $4.6; 1,803; $2,535; $93.0; -41%

Overseas

Film (Weeks in release): 3-day gross*; Territories; Screens; Int’l cume*; Global cume*; Percentage change

  1. Pacific Rim (4): $53.0; 58; 10,500; $200.4; $293.4; +276%

  2. The Smurfs 2 (1): $52.5; 43; n/a; $52.5; $80.3; –

  3. The Wolverine (2): $38.5; 67; 13,187; $160.2; $255.3; -55%

  4. Despicable Me 2 (7): $13.8; 51; 6,500; $387.0; $713.7; -45%

  5. Fast and Furious 6 (12): $8.8; 32; 3,200; $533.1; $771.1; -66%


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