‘Kung Fu Panda 3’ tops Super Bowl weekend at box office

Hollywood fumbled the ball during a quiet Super Bowl weekend at the multiplexes as new releases such as “Hail, Caesar!” and “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” failed to make much noise.

The box office results are in from the weekend, and it isn’t the greatest thing for Hail, Caesar!

For The Choice, inspired by Nicholas Sparks, only $6.1 million of tickets were sold – the LOWEST wide opening in Sparks’ entire career, too! Fellow newcomer “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” is even quieter at #6 with $5.2 million.

The character of Po poses at the premiere of “Kung Fu Panda 3” at the TCL Chinese theatre in Hollywood, California January 16, 2016. They gave the film a dreaded “C-” rating, which doesn’t bode well for the film’s long-term prospects. Panda 3 is now running 26% behind the pace of KFP2.

Caesar stars George Clooney as a kidnapped A-lister and has a megawatt ensemble including Josh Brolin, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill and Scarlett Johansson.

But “Hail Caesar” is not the only new release which underperformed this week as the Super Bowl fever took over the USA this Sunday.

With the slow release for Zootopia, the buzz for Star Wars: The Force Awakens begin to fade.

The latest “Kung Fu Panda” installment grossed an estimated $21 million in the USA and Canada over the past weekend. 4 million in North American theaters for Universal Pictures.

In comparison to Kung Fu Panda 2, the numbers were very close to the $66.75 million earned during the six-day opening in 2011.

Lionsgate’s The Choice nabbed a B+ CinemaScore. Lionsgate acquired the project for less than $10 million.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was dead on arrival, croaking with a mere $5.2 million for No. 6. It’s also crossed the $2 billion mark globally; only Titanic and Avatar have grossed more worldwide in movie history. Alejandro G. Innaritu’s win at the Directors Guild Award on Saturday night, was a cherry on the top with another $1.7 million to its grand total which is now just shy of $150 million domestically and over $326 million worldwide. On Friday, it grossed an estimated $2 million. It now holds a CinemaScore of B-, but 41 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. “A Violent Prosecutor”, $19.5 million. 4. Overall, The Revenant has already amassed to a $238.5 million in the box-office.

Dirty Grandpa was down four spots to #10 in its third weekend with $4.1 million. The film, also distributed by 20th Century Fox, has been showing box office endurance thanks to its 12 Oscar nominations. The Leonardo DiCaprio starring survival drama has so far made $147.3 million internationally, playing best in the United Kingdom ($22.9 million) and Germany ($18.6 million). The $28-million production was financed by West Hollywood film company Cross Creek Pictures and stars Lily James of “Cinderella” and “Downton Abbey”.