DreamWorks Animation’s first co-pro with Shanghai’s Oriental DreamWorks is delivering on Jeffrey Katzenberg’s investment in opening up avenues to the Chinese theatrical audience.
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Disney’s The Finest Hours was the only other new release to make it to the Top 5, although the studio won’t be happy.
The DreamWorks produced movie took in $57m (£39.7m) during its launch weekend in China and also topped the USA box office.
Following the adventures of Po as he evolves from martial arts student to teacher, the U.S.-Chinese production features the voices of stars Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman and Angelina Jolie.
“We want it to feel like a completed journey, and we feel this movie (Kung Fu Panda 3) does (offer a firm conclusion)”.
Behind “American Sniper” and Kevin Hart’s original “Ride Along“, “Kung Fu Panda 3” is the third best January opening ever.
“Star Wars” is projected to gross a little more than $10 million for the weekend, bringing the blockbuster closer to the $900 million mark domestically. Leonardo DiCaprio’s “The Revenant” won the frame with only $16 million in its third weekend of wide release.
“‘Kung Fu Panda 3’ truly filled a void in a marketplace that has been chock-full of adult dramas, awards-season contenders and other R-rated fare, and capitalized on this with a move from the typical summer release date”, says Rentrak senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian.
DWA can also be happy that it was only slightly down from Kung Fu Panda 2’s $47.6 million opening in 2011. The film now has a total domestic gross of $139 million, a big thanks to that being the Oscar hype around it.
Fifty Shades of Black, spoofing Fifty Shades of Grey, came in No. 9 with roughly $6 million from 2,075 theaters after earning a C CinemaScore.
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Disney’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” led the rest of the pack with $10.8 million at 2,566 locations, lifting its record-setting USA total to $895.4 million.
