The opening for the latest adventures of Po and his pals was down slightly from the $47 million earned by the second film back in 2011, but it should be noted that Panda 2 opened during the Memorial Day holiday weekend.
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Marking the first major US-China animation co-production, the DreamWorks Animation/Oriental DreamWorks film has been released in two language versions on 15,000 screens, nearly half of the country’s total number.
Taking the No. 1 spot at the box office in commanding fashion is “Kung Fu Panda 3”, bringing in an estimated million.
“‘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. Numbers for China weren’t immediately available. New additions to the voice cast include Bryan Cranston, Kate Hudson and J.K. Simmons. The Finest Hours opened in fourth place with just $10 million, a hard start against its reported $70 million production budget.
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. “The movie, which earned an A- CinemaScore, came in # 3 behind KFP- 3 and Fox (NASDAQ:FOX) and New Regency’s The Revenant, in its 6th frame”.
It finished the weekend with US$12.4m at 3,330 sites for a decline of only 25 per cent and has now generated an impressive US$138.2m domestically. On the plus side for the studio, it only cost around $6 million to produce.
The critically eviscerated spoof of Fifty Shades of Black from Marlon Wayans was expected to open around $10 million. The film now has a total domestic gross of $139 million, a big thanks to that being the Oscar hype around it.
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Gavin O’Connor’s Jane Got a Gun, starring Portman opposite Joel Edgerton and Ewan McGregor, found itself quickly run out out of town.
