Fox’s Kung Fu Panda 3 debuted to an estimated $41 million, earning the best opening weekend of 2016 (so far).
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The cartoon also helped the USA box office turn in a respectable performance following a dismal weekend that saw business hit hard by the massive East Coast snowstorm.
The “Kung Fu Panda” franchise is one of the most successful animated series in Hollywood, bringing in over $1.3 billion globally since the original in 2008. “It’s about panda. In China”.
The news wasn’t as rosy for Disney’s other film in the marketplace: the drama The Finest Hours, which ran aground in fourth place with a weak $10.3 million from 3,143 theaters.
Starring Chris Pine and Casey Affleck, it’s based on the true story of a 1952 rescue of a ship that breaks apart during a raging New England nor’easter.
Disney and Lucasfilm’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” came in No. 4. Despite losing 809 screens the blockbuster managed to bring in an estimated $10.8 million from 2,556 theaters, a decrease of only 23% from last weekend’s gross.
Rounding out the rest 10 most-popular movies in the United States this weekend were “The Finest Hours” (10.3 million dollars), “Ride Along 2” (8.3 million), “The Boy” (7.9 million), “Dirty Grandpa” (7.6 million), “The 5th Wave” (7 million), “Fifty Shades of Black” (6.2 million) and “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi” (6 million). Critics gave the film a 59% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes while ticket buyers rated it an “A-“. A sequel starring Ice Cube and Kevin Hart, the comedy has been in theatres for three weeks.
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Fifty Shades of Grey spoof Fifty Shades of Black failed to perform, taking just $6.1m in ninth place. The $145-million-budget film is also being shown in the Mandarin language featuring the local voice of Jackie Chan. The Natalie Portman-starring western has faced a long road to get to theaters, weathering a director departure, cast changes, and its previous distributor, Relativity Media, going bankrupt. That film opened in May that year, rather than January.
