Pacific Rim Didn't Do All that Well in Japan, China Making Sequel Possible
A recent Variety article shows that Pacific Rim isn't doing as well in Japan as it was expected to. Its opening weekend (10th and 11th of August) only yielded $3.04 million. This isn't as bad as it seems, however, as most other movies on the list only pulled in slightly more (and we're talking decimals here), as the reigning champion of cinema for the past four weeks remains Hayao Miyazaki, whose new film The Wind Rises has netted a total of $54 million total in Japan alone.
Now before we sound the horns and bring out the save-this-movie Jaegers, the film is continuing to dominate in China, grossing $79 million total in two weekends despite competition from Chinese franchises! $50 million in China was a big factor in whether or not Warner would discuss a sequel for the film, and with the extra money being a buffer for Japanese audiences, all we have to wait on are Brazil's numbers before we learn the fate of the sequel. Really, all it would take though is one more strong weekend in China and the sequel is pretty much a sure thing! Who's pumped?!