"Kung Fu Panda 3" Gets #1 Again during Super Bowl Weekend

[JamesG]

Kung Fu Panda 3 #1; Holdovers Make Up for Money Lost in the Snow
by Brad Brevet
January 31, 2016


Kung Fu Panda 3 reigns atop the weekend box office, bringing in more than enough to become the largest January animated opening of all-time.

Meanwhile, fellow newcomers The Finest Hours, Fifty Shades of Black and Jane Got a Gun didn't fair so well as holdovers from last weekend make up for dollars lost due to last weekend's snowstorm.

Not a single film in the top ten dropped more than 34% and the overall top twelve was up nearly 25% compared to last weekend, which is also a 46% improvement over the same weekend last year.







With an estimated $41 million, Kung Fu Panda 3 crushed the previous January, animated opening weekend record of $19.4 million held by The Nut Job (2014). It's also bordering on a enough to become the second largest January opening of all-time, just shy of Ride Along's $41.5 million from 2014.

Compared to the first two Panda films, the opening does signify yet another drop off following the original film's $60.2 million and Kung Fu Panda 2's $47.6 million, but with an "A" CinemaScore and not another animated release until March 4's Zootopia, it has a month all to itself to take in the animated, family dollar.







In second and third position, The Revenant and Star Wars: The Force Awakens had amazing holds, both dropping less than 25% after the snowstorm had a significant impact on their totals last weekend.

The Revenant brought in an estimated $12.4 million while Star Wars added another $10.7 million to its cume, which is now less than $5 million shy of $900 million.

Internationally, Star Wars added another $12.6 million as its worldwide gross is now up to $1.983 billion.







The next new wide release on the chart finds us in fourth place where The Finest Hours performed largely as expected, bringing in $10.3 million along with an "A-" CinemaScore. While the result was expected it's not exactly a winning opening for a film with a budget reported to be in the $70-80 million range.

Directed by Craig Gillespie (Million Dollar Arm) and starring Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Holliday Grainger, John Ortiz and Eric Bana, the "based on a true story" flick ended up reeling in almost exactly as much as December's In the Heart of the Sea, which opened with $11 million in 40 fewer theaters.







Moving to the bottom of the top ten, Fifty Shades of Black is in a fight for ninth place, coming in just ahead of 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi with an estimated $6.1 million.

Industry expectations for the Marlon Wayans spoof were as wide as $6-12 million heading into the weekend, but in the end the film came in on the very low side of that range. With a budget said to be around $5 million it's hardly a flop, but in comparison to Wayans' A Haunted House films, it's well short of the $18.1 million the first one brought in back in January 2013 and even the $8.8 million the sequel earned a year later.

Additionally, the "C" CinemaScore doesn't bode well for its holdover next weekend.







The biggest disappointment of the weekend, however, is the Natalie Portman-led Western, Jane Got a Gun. With an estimated $803,000 from 1,210 theaters, the film scored a mere $664 per theater average.

This is, by far, the worst wide release opening in Portman's career and the worst opening on a per theater average with 2011's Hesher, which opened in 42 theaters with $126,046 ($3,001 PTA), a distant second.







On a more positive side, ShortsHD and Magnolia Pictures released the 2016 Oscar Nominated Shorts into 112 theaters and pulled in an impressive $505,000, the best result for the theatrical release of the short films yet.

Last year's release opened in 118 theaters and pulled in $416,850 and went on to make over $2.4 million. Next week, another 80 theaters will be added to the list with several more being added the weekend of February 12, playing through Oscar weekend.

Included in the list are select Cinemark, AMC, Regal and Carmike locations, a first time screening the shorts program for both Regal and Carmike.







Jumping back into the top ten, Ride Along 2 dropped only 33% to finish with an estimated $8.3 million followed by last weekend's new release, The Boy, which dropped a mere 26.8% for an estimated $7.8 million.

Fellow sophomore efforts from Dirty Grandpa and The 5th Wave dipped less than 33%, finishing with $7.5 and $7 million respectively.







From an awards season perspective, The Big Short, Room and Spotlight won Screen Actors Guild Awards over the weekend and all three, along with Brooklyn, performed very well, bunched up in the 12-15 positions on the weekend chart.

Only Spotlight dropped over 10%, but at the same time it also lost 315 theaters from last weekend.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=4150&p=.htm









January 29-31, 2016 Weekend Studio Estimates:


1. Kung Fu Panda 3 $41,000,000
2. The Revenant $12,400,000 / $138,171,368
3. Star Wars: The Force Awakens $10,782,000 / $895,426,162
4. The Finest Hours $10,327,000
5. Ride Along 2 $8,345,520 / $70,775,210
6. The Boy $7,894,000 / $21,527,916
7. Dirty Grandpa $7,575,000 / $22,821,010
8. The 5th Wave $7,000,000 / $20,188,149
9. Fifty Shades of Black $6,186,648
10. 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi $6,000,000 / $42,573,845

[JamesG]

Kung Fu Panda 3 Tops Super Bowl Weekend; Hail, Caesar! Leads Newcomers
by Brad Brevet
February 7, 2016


Kung Fu Panda 3 topped Super Bowl weekend, finishing #1 for a second weekend in a row while the weekend's three newcomers didn't exactly inspire upon release.

The Coens' Hail, Caesar! performed as expected, though that isn't saying much, while The Choice ended up topping Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which couldn't even reach $6 million.

Meanwhile, the big winner of the weekend is Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which crossed $900 million domestically and became only the third film to ever make over $2 billion worldwide.







With an estimated $21 million, Kung Fu Panda 3 took home the #1 position for a second weekend in a row. The 49% drop is a bit steeper than expected, but could also have to do with some hesitation with predicting too high a Sunday gross.

Nevertheless, with no serious competition arriving until Zootopia on March 4, this one still has a lot of time to rake in a few dollars.







In second place, and topping the list of newcomers, Joel and Ethan Coen's Hail, Caesar! finished the weekend with an estimated $11.4 million along with a "C-" CinemaScore from opening day audiences.

This is the lowest opening for a Coen brothers release opening in over 1,500 theaters and it will likely finish around $27-30 million if word-of-mouth doesn't hurt it too much. That said, critics certainly enjoyed it, as it scored a 79% "Certified Fresh" rating at RottenTomatoes and a solid score of 72 at MetaCritic.

So, perhaps there's an audience that will keep it alive, many of which that may catch it next weekend after staying home to watch the Super Bowl this weekend.







Finishing second among the new releases is the latest Nicholas Sparks adaptation, The Choice. The film did manage to crack the top five thanks to the underperforming Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but it also has the distinction of owning the lowest opening weekend of any Sparks adaptation.

No previous Sparks adaptation had opened with less than $10 million, and The Choice did all it could do to come in with an estimated $6 million and a "B+" CinemaScore.

Next weekend this one will be hoping to best the second weekend average drop of 44.6% for a Sparks film if it wants to gross over $20 million for its domestic run.







Landing in sixth place is the aforementioned Pride and Prejudice and Zombies with a paltry $5.2 million and a "B-" CinemaScore.

Screen Gems doesn't stand to lose much on this one as it was fully financed by Cross Creek Pictures, but with a budget reported to be around $28 million and a domestic run that may struggle to reach $16 million, this one is going to be hoping for big returns internationally.







Taking third position after director Alejandro G. Inarritu took home the Directors Guild Award on Saturday night, The Revenant added another $7.1 million.

It is now just shy of $150 million domestically and over $326 million worldwide.







It has already been mentioned, but Star Wars: The Force Awakens has now become the only film to not only cross $800 million domestically, but this weekend it crossed $900 million in North America.

After eight weeks in release and another top five finish, Star Wars added another $6.8 million bringing its cume to $905.9 million and its worldwide total now stands at $2.008 billion.







A couple other new releases include China Lion's The Monkey King 2, which brought in an estimated $175,000 from 38 theaters and Regression starring Emma Watson and Ethan Hawke, which finished with $31,000 from 10 theaters.

Finally, the weekend was a major struggle for Jane Got a Gun, which dropped 84.8% after an all-ready disappointing opening weekend. It's the second largest second weekend drop of all-time and the largest second weekend drop for a film playing in over 1,000 theaters.

The film brought in an estimated $127,000 from 1,031 theaters for a $123 per theater average.




Overall, the weekend's top twelve was down 40.3% from the same weekend last year, but only $2.9 million down from Super Bowl weekend last year, which came a week earlier.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=4153&p=.htm









February 5-7, 2016 Weekend Studio Estimates:


1. Kung Fu Panda 3 $21,000,000 / $69,050,957
2. Hail, Caesar! $11,440,000
3. The Revenant $7,100,000 / $149,703,403
4. Star Wars: The Force Awakens $6,890,000 / $905,961,469
5. The Choice $6,085,000
6. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies $5,200,000
7. The Finest Hours $4,715,000 / $18,380,660
8. Ride Along 2 $4,520,000 / $77,206,830
9. The Boy $4,098,000 / $26,895,684
10. Dirty Grandpa $4,050,000 / $29,389,753

[Tubehead]

i liked to see it!! i heard it was good movie!! my dad doesn't like cartoon movies!! i probably wait & buy it on blu ray or on dvd!! i got the first & second kung fu panda movies on dvd!!

[Schmoopie]

My husband and I LOVE pandas so we're going to see it this weekend in Portland.