Although the movie has taken the lead at this week’s box office, Rotten Tomatoes reports Kung Fu Panda 3, which was made with a budget of $145 million (GBP101 million), debuted with the lowest earnings out of all three films in the franchise.
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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.
Former champion “The Revenant” is pushed down one position to No. 2 with approximately $12.4 million.
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.
“The “Kung Fu Panda” franchise was a summer mainstay”, Dergarabedian said.
“Kung Fu Panda 3” has kicked its way to the top of the North American box office with a respectable $41 million, according to Rentrak estimates Sunday.
But while Kung Panda 3 soared, this weekend’s other new releases fell a little flat.
“Kung Fu Panda 3” was produced by DreamWorks Animation and four-year-old Oriental DreamWorks, the joint venture founded by DWA and Chinese investors with the aim of producing mainly Chinese-themed films.
Marlon Wayans’ spoof of E.L. James’ Fifty Shades of Grey opened to $6.2 million in 2,982 locations, earning a C CinemaScore.
Rounding out the top five on Friday was the horror movie “The Boy”, which grossed about $2.3 million.
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Oscar-hopeful “The Revenant”, distributed by Fox, and Disney’s record-breaking “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” continued their solid performances, holding on to No. 2 and No. 3 slot. The film has grossed over 138.1 million dollars after 24 days of wide release. To date, the latest entry in the Star Wars saga has racked up more than $895.4 million domestically and $1.98 billion worldwide.
