Kung Fu Panda rules
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kung Fu Panda 3 kicked its way to the top of the North American box office with a respectable US$41 million, according to Rentrak estimates Sunday.
The DreamWorks Animation film cost a reported $145 million to make and earned a strong ‘A’ CinemaScore from audiences — 70 per cent of whom were families.
The first film opened to US$60.2 million in 2008 and the second to US$47.7 million in 2011.
For Fox, switching up the release was a no-brainer after seeing the successes of The Lego Movie and last year’s The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water in this time frame.
“We know that when the market conditions are right, this business really is a 365-day-a-year business,” said Chris Aronson, Fox’s domestic distribution chief. “We saw an opportunity and we grabbed it. We’re thrilled with the results.”
