As I wrote in my review last week, I enjoyed Guillermo Del Toro’s “Pacific Rim” quite a bit. It was a serious film, that at moments didn’t take itself quite too seriously. If you have seen either of Del Toro’s ‘Hellboy’ films (as well as the last – and only, that I am aware – film he worked on with Peter Jackson, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” you probably noticed that serious moments were occasionally interspersed with levity that fit the situation, as opposed to, I don’t know, a leg humping robot.
“Pacific Rim” is a perfect summer film in many ways, yet for some reason more people decided to see Adam Sandler in “Grown Ups 2,” where a high point seemed to be a male deer pissing on Sandler (and speaking of which, “Grown Ups 2” is – so far at any rate – doing better than “Pacific Rim” domestically, though worldwide, there’s no contest. Then again, ‘Rim’ cost significantly more to make).
Though Business Insider has a theory as to why “Pacific Rim” started out so (relatively speaking) weak at the box office, and it’s worth reading.
SCREENPHILES 
I think the total lack of tie-in marketing was brutal. In our area – not a T shirt; toys scarce and in specialty shops; no product tie ins (cereal, etc) – just NOTHING to get the word out or build buzz. Nothing aimed at kids. No magazine covers. The commercials were out there, sure, but NOTHING else. NOTHING. You’d never know it was coming, in many cases. It was strange.
Now that you mention it, I don’t remember much outside the traditional channels myself. Sometimes it’s hard for me to tell because I am always looking for information. I think that the most interesting thing is that it’s still going to do well – currently it’s just over $100 million dollars worldwide – so while things were a little dicey with the comparisons to Grown Ups 2, I am not too worried.