i don't want to live this planet anymore/pacific rim comes third at box office

Before you decide to lose the will to live and open up a vein, just remember that we are at that time of the year when many schools are looking at the end of term and summer holidays. Just think, that there are those of us who go to watch a film out of freedom of choice and not because someone has decided that we will be herded into the cinema by the coach load to watch something that settles in nicely with a school curriculum. The studios know this, and who can blame them. I think it is a bit too soon to decide on whether something is a hit or not, especially at this time of year.

Well to be fair, Pacific Rim is a new IP, and as such it's pretty natural that it has a bit of a hard time against sequels and adaptations with familiar faces. The good news is that the situation can be reverted. Movies get a long ways out of word of mouth, and honestly Grown Ups 2 is even crappier than the first one, so it will only go downhill from here for Sandler & Co. Pacific Rim on the other hand, is pretty good so it has a better chance to attract people to theaters when people like you recommend it. So do that!

Despite its only fair performance in the American market it saw a bump in the foreign market to the tune of 90 million plus (combined). I think they will make back there money and it will only get better once DVD's release.

Don't forget that the movie also hasn't premiered everywhere yet; Japan doesn't get a launch until August, and that alone could help give it a substantial boost. Plus, like Cthulu said (never thought I'd say those words lol), the numbers aren't including sales of the merchandise that's out, and coming out (Dvd/Bluray for instance) in the future. I think they'll be able to re-coop the money they spent on the film, but I don't know about making a profit, unfortunately.

This unfortunately reminds me of what happened with Firefly and the Serenity movie. Lots of internet buzz, fanboys making a lot of noise, an excellent movie that reminded me of Star Wars....and it performed middling at the box office. Sometimes despite the quality of a movie you can never tell whats going to happen. The film just doesn't catch fire. I'm quite glad that we have Pacific Rim and Godzilla next year. I don't need the Box Office to make me happy they exist.

Del Toro also said he will make a sequel and given the buzz of this film it will happen. He already said what plans he has for the sequel.

I'm looking forward to it too. Some thoughts... Pros -- I think we will see more of a human-centric storyline now that the Pacific Rim world has been outlined and we got to see plenty of monster bashing action. This is to the good since I think even the most dedicated fan will admit that the human story was a bit thin. Cons -- I wonder how big a budget del Toro will receive in Pacific Rim 2? Probably significantly smaller, maybe 120 million, I think. I hope they can still make miracles with it.

I think the two biggest factors (by far) that hurt the box office performance of Pacific Rim were a) the title and b) Warner Bros. terrible marketing. Before you say "you're crazy", let me explain. The title. What does that evoke? Not much really unless you know what is, movie or otherwise (potentially referring to the Pacific Ring of Fire). To those that are educated and have done their research, we know what to expect. However, 90% of moviegoers are NOT educated. By educated, I mean they haven't done their research. It's that simple. Moviegoers are also generally STUPID. They hear "Transformers" and flock to see Michael Bay's next disastrous masterpiece. They hear "Pacific Rim" and what does it evoke? Very little. Maybe confusion. In fact, let me give you an example of a movie completely let down by its title. John Carter. Remember that Disney bomb? You know what? It was actually good. Not at all terrible. But the title of "John Carter" is really generic. So, let me give you the movie's ORIGINAL title. "JOHN CARTER OF MARS". Suddenly, people are curious. What does it mean "of Mars"? People want to know more. To say "the title could've been better" is really an understatement. The marketing. We, as fans of the movie, may have liked the marketing, but we were already invested. Warner Bros. was pandering to people who were ALREADY going to see it. They needed to have broadened the audience, sooner rather than later. And guess what? They chose to do it EXTREMELY late. STUPID, STUPID, STUPID MOVE. Don't market a movie to people who are already going to watch it. Market it to people who DON'T GIVE A DAMN and MAKE THEM GIVE A DAMN. Then you've got a blockbuster. Hell, let's go back to John Carter. Like I said, it was a good movie. But don't tell that to the movie's trailers and TV spots. They had NOTHING story wise and were just quick flashes of action. Is it sounding familiar? Yeah, that's right. Pacific Rim's marketing did kind of the same thing. A little bit of story at the beginning of trailers/TV spots and then smashing people over the head with action. It looked cool, but It doesn't get anyone invested. Warner Bros. didn't understand IN THE SLIGHTEST, what Pacific Rim was. They failed it. It's really that simple. To a lesser extent, another problem was that the story made it seem like the END of a trilogy. Not a good idea either. To be entirely honest, they should've started with the middle or beginning of the war. That way, people have another movie to look forward to and know what to expect. Don't get me wrong; Guillermo del Toro is one of the few people in Hollywood I still trust. But he needed to have realized that audiences aren't bright. Leaving them salivating for the 2nd movie, is sometimes all it really takes. Instead, Pacific Rim feels like a complete movie. We pick up towards the end of the war and we finish it. Done. Audiences NEED to know: What else is there to tell now?

yeah that is good point

I agree with you, OniEdge, regarding the title and marketing. However, I actually enjoyed that the movie comes in towards the end of the story. I had not heard that a sequel was in the works; so that's exciting! However, I would love to see it as a prequel. As much as I appreciated the fact they didn't over think the plot, I'd love to learn more about the PPDC and their evolution. It pains me that the general public wants crap like "The Heat" while true gems like Pacific Rim struggle.

Yeah, prequel, prequel! There's so much to tell which happens before the events of the movie, and besides... by the end they basically solved the whole problem. They'd need to come up with a (probably) silly reason to bring the Kaiju back.