Box office: ‘Grown Ups 2’ on pace to best ‘Pacific Rim’

Futuristic giant robots may be designed to defeat monsters, but they seem to be no match for a bunch of middle-aged comics.

“Grown Ups 2� headed into the weekend tracking ahead of Guillermo del Toro’s ambitious sci-fi effort “Pacific Rim� at the box office with a $16-million take Friday night compared with $14.6 million for “Pacific Rim.� Those who have seen early ticket sales numbers estimate that “Grown Ups 2� could amass a weekend total of $46 million while “Pacific Rim� is estimated to bring in $37 million

The prospective total marks a vindication of sorts for the Adam Sandler-led comedy, which also features fellow veteran comics David Spade, Kevin James and Chris Rock. Heading into the weekend, “Grown Ups 2� received some of the most negative reviews of the summer with just a 7% score on the aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes. Perhaps significantly, the same website indicated a markedly different reception from the viewer perspective with a 90% audience approval rating from more than 50,000 respondents.

PHOTOS: Billion-dollar movie club

By contrast, “Pacific Rim� opened to mostly positive reviews but stands to come in at third this weekend behind a still-strong “Despicable Me 2,� which is on track for an estimated weekend earnings of another $43 million. The total should push the sequel to the 2010 animated film over the $200-million mark in its second week since opening on July 4.

“The Heat� is expected to come in fourth this weekend with an estimated take of $4.2 million on Friday, which pushed the Paul Feig-directed comedy over $100 million. Disney’s “The Lone Ranger� continued to underperform and looks poised to round out the top five while taking in an estimated $3.4 million on Friday.

ALSO:

Critics agree: ‘Grown Ups 2’ is the summer’s worst movie

Review: ‘Grown Ups 2’ refuses to leave the sandbox

‘Grown Ups 2’ battles ‘Pacific Rim,’ 20th Century Fox goes Broadway

Twitter:@chrisbarton