The aforementioned Harvey Weinstein released the acclaimed drama Fruitvale Station in seven US theatres at the weekend and it grossed an excellent $377,000. The 72% approval rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes could bode well for North America too if word of mouth gets out and the movie sticks around for a few weeks. It's possible Pacific Rim will become an international hit. Legendary financed most of the movie so we're not talking about a hit to the studio that will be anything like as severe as the one Disney is preparing itself for with The Lone Ranger. Top brass at Warner Bros and their outgoing financing and production partner Legendary Entertainment will take heart from this. Del Toro's tentpole came within a hair's breadth of kicking Despicable Me 2 off its perch, grossing an estimated $53m from a relatively light footprint of 38 markets, compared to the second weekend heroics of Despicable Me 2 on $55.5m. Pacific Rim ventured into its first territories outside North America and the results were highly encouraging. On that note, it's worth considering the movie's international performance. Still, the numbers are the only story the studios care about.

Harvey Weinstein has the movie in the US and if he believes Elba has a crack at an Oscar, the British actor could not wish for a more influential advocate. Maybe his lead role in the upcoming Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, will unlock the vault.

Pacific Rim lacks one, with all respect to Charlie Hunnam, who will be familiar to US TV viewers through Sons of Anarchy, and the mesmerising Idris Elba, a renowned TV actor on both sides of the Atlantic who you get the sense could be on the cusp of movie stardom. Despite the opinion of some who say the effects are the real stars these days, you can never underestimate the allure of a celebrity. Pacific Rim is neither: it's hard to launch a new property with little brand awareness and a lack of A-list talent. This was a big weekend at the box office and the potency of Del Toro's film will have been neutered somewhat by Despicable Me 2 and the No 2 title Grown Ups 2 starring Adam Sandler.īoth the No 1 and No 2 movies are sequels boasting household names. Pacific Rim reportedly cost around $190m and that is a lot of lolly to recoup, especially when you add as much as $100m in global marketing spend on top of that. However in these days of engorged budgets and the close attention of a frantic US trade press desperate for headlines on a Sunday, it is simply not good enough. By most standards this would be a decent opening haul for the latest Guillermo del Toro movie.

Warner Bros' robots v monsters mash-up Pacific Rim arrived in third place at the North American box office this week on an estimated $38.3m.

Pacific rim movie rotten tomatoes