‘Kung Fu Panda 3’ dominates the weekend box office

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.

The battling bear toon’s first day box office was second among animated films only to the 116.6 million RMB (17.6 million dollars) earned by Illumination’s Minions last September.

The fluffy panda Po has come back with a bang for the third instalment in the animated Kung Fu Panda series.

This time, Kung Fu Panda 3 is on track for a better run than its predecessors, simply because it’ll have more time in theaters. Disney’s The Finest Hours faced rough waters, debuting to only $10.3 million in 3,143 locations.

“Kung Fu Panda 3” kicked its way to the top of the North American box office over the weekend, bouncing “The Revenant” to the number two spot, industry estimates showed Sunday. The Disney movie, earning an A- CinemaScore, came in No. 3 after Panda 3 and Fox and New Regency’s The Revenant, which remains a potent player in its sixth weekend. To date, the latest entry in the Star Wars saga has racked up more than $895.4 million domestically and $1.98 billion worldwide.

The third film in the franchise was a joint venture between DreamWorks Animation and Oriental DreamWorks, a DWA spin-off founded by Chinese investors with the aim of producing films for the Chinese market.

The critically eviscerated spoof of Fifty Shades of Black from Marlon Wayans was expected to open around $10 million.

Gavin O’Connor’s Jane Got a Gun, starring Natalie Portman opposite Joel Edgerton and Ewan McGregor was DOA. Despite losing 809 screens the blockbuster managed to bring in an estimated $10.8 million from 2,556 theaters, a decrease of only 23% from last weekend’s gross. The film has grossed over 138.1 million dollars after 24 days of wide release.