‘Kung Fu Panda 3’ tops box office, ‘Finest Hours’ flounders

At the US box office, the movie showed plenty of punch as well, earning $41 million – a total that means it was almost as well-received as Kung Fu Panda 2, which made $47.7 million its first weekend in 2011, according to Reuters.

“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.

The Weinstein Co.’s “Jane Got a Gun”, starring Natalie Portman, brought in $803,000 in a less robust 1,210-theater opening.

Its first day total already compares favorably against the 116.6 million yuan earned by Universal/Illumination’s Minions last September at a launch which included midnight screenings. The Disney film has earned $895 million domestically and an additional $1.087 billion from overseas. KFP-3 was produced by DWA and Oriental DreamWorks, with backing from the China Film Group (CFG).

This movie is also mainly targeting at Chinese kids, which is described by CNN as a fast-growing market in China.

Exhibitor Relations estimated the film made US$12.4 million its sixth week in theatres.

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens”, continued its blockbuster run for a seventh week, pulling in another $10.8 million.

“The Revenant” remained a solid draw in its fourth weekend of wide release, thanks to its dozen Oscar nominations and DiCaprio’s star power. The $80 million production is a dramatization of the true-life Coast Guard rescue of over 30 men off the coast of Cape Cod in 1952 and stars Chris Pine, Casey Affleck and Eric Bana. 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.

Fifty Shades of Black, spoofing Fifty Shades of Grey, came in No. 9 with roughly $6 million from 2,075 theaters after earning a C CinemaScore. The family film cost around $145 million to produce.