‘Panda’ stays warm and fuzzy
Kung Fu Panda 3 karate-chopped the competition in its second week out.
The animated family adventure won the Super Bowl weekend with $21 million at the box office, according to studio estimates from the tracking firm comScore. Boasting a star-studded voice cast of Jack Black, Kate Hudson and Bryan Cranston, the well-received sequel has earned $69 million in just 10 days of release. “It’s all about timing, and Kung
Fu Panda took advantage of that opening last weekend, with very few options for families,” says comScore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian.
“Another big boost for the movie was Super Bowl weekend. A lot of people are trying to get their moviegoing out of the way Friday and Saturday.” Joel and Ethan Coen’s Hail,
Caesar! made its debut in second place with an OK $11.4 million in 2,200 theaters. Caesar stars George Clooney as a kidnapped A-lister and has a megawatt ensemble including Josh Brolin, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill and Scarlett Johansson. It earned generally positive reviews from critics (79% approval on RottenTomatoes.com) but a less favorable 48% from audiences.
Holdovers The Revenant and Star Wars: The Force Awakens continued to astound, landing in third and fourth place, respectively. Riding a wave of 12 Oscar nominations and multiple wins this awards season for star Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant earned another $7.1 million in its seventh weekend, bringing its tally to $149.7 million. Force
Awakens brought in an additional $6.9 million for a record-breaking $906 million total in North America and more than $2 billion worldwide, the third film ever to cross that mark.
In fifth place, Nicholas Sparks’ adaptation The Choice couldn’t muster much heat, netting only $6.1 million. Pride and Prejudice
and Zombies was dead on arrival, croaking with a mere $5.2 million for No. 6. Starring Cinderella’s Lily James, the poorly reviewed thriller is an adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith’s supernatural parody novel, which mashes up Jane Austen’s 1813 classic with the undead.
Final numbers are out Monday.