Kung Fu Panda 3 kicked its way to the top of the North American box office over the weekend, bouncing The Revenant to the number two spot, industry estimates showed yesterday.
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The animated movie is expected to gross between $39 million to $41 million for its opening weekend, slightly less than the $47.7 million earned by “Kung Fu Panda 2” over a comparable three-day opening in 2011. Natalie Portman’s latest offering Jane Got a Gun opened in more than 1,000 venues but made less than $1,000 per screen, leaving it without sufficient box office steam to break into the top ten.
Kung Fu Panda 3 has a set a record for the best opening for an animated film in China. “It’s about panda. In China”.
Chris Pine and Casey Affleck’s deep sea rescue drama The Finest Hours debuts at four with a disappointing $10.3 million (GBP7.2 million), and Kevin Hart and Ice Cube’s comedy Ride Along 2 comes in at five.
A Mandarin language version of the film will also be released in China featuring a voice cast that includes Jackie Chan.
“Kung Fu Panda 3 definitely feels like the end of a trilogy and wraps up the dragon warrior’s story in a complete and satisfying way”, IGN’s Max Nicholson said.
Chinese Christian Singer Jay Chou along with Canadian-Taiwanese young singer Patrick Brasca performed one of the much-awaited animation film series Kung Fu Panda 3 theme song entitled “Try”. The family film cost around $145 million to produce. “The Revenant” held onto second place for the third time since its release, bringing in an estimated million and pushing the Oscar heavyweight to a $274 million worldwide total.
Disney’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” claimed third place with an estimated 10.8 million dollars.
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“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. Overseas, the film pulled in a big $75 million in its debut.
