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Audiences were more than ready to meet again with the Dragon Warrior.
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***Kung Fu Panda 4*** over-performed expectations and delivered the franchise’s best debut since the original film. And while ***Dune: Part Two*** had to cede the #1 spot, it had a very great drop. Other newcomers were ***Imaginary*** and ***Cabrini***, which both had rough starts at the box office.
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The Top 10 earned a combined $131 million this weekend. That’s up 15.6% from last year, when ***Scream VI*** debuted with a franchise-best $44.4 million. It’s the first weekend of the year to be up from last year.
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In 4,035 theaters, ***Kung Fu Panda*** debuted with $57.8 million this weekend. That’s just slightly less than the original film ($60 million) and it improved on the opening weekends of the past two films ($47 million and $41 million). The most impressive stat, however, is that it marked DreamWorks Animation’s biggest debut since ***Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted*** ($60 million) 12 years ago.
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That’s a bit surprising, considering (as you can see) the franchise was declining with each passing film domestically. But Universal wisely knew that they needed a hook and differentiate it from the previous films. In this case, the film depicted Po as the new Master who had to find the new Dragon Warrior. 8 years was also enough time to build nostalgia for the audience who grew up watching him. And another advantage was the incredibly weak animation competition; ***Migration*** was the sole animated title for 3 months, so the audience was starved for something new.
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According to Universal, 58% of the audience was male, and 67% was in the 13-24 demographic. They gave it a solid “A–” on CinemaScore, which indicates the audience liked, but didn’t love the movie. There’s no animated competition until ***The Garfield Movie*** in May, so it should very well. It should pass the past two films without any problem.
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Last week’s champ ***Dune: Part Two*** had to descend to second place. But despite that, it held very well. It earned $46.2 million, which marked a 44% drop. That’s better than the original’s drop (62.4%), although that’s apples-to-oranges considering that film’s rewatches were affected as it was available on HBO Max from the first day. Nevertheless, ***Part Two*** has earned $157.2 million domestically, passing the original already. It should still hit $250 million in the market, even though ***Ghostbusters*** and ***Godzilla x Kong*** are on the horizon.
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Lionsgate’s ***Imaginary*** debuted with $9.9 million in 3,118 theaters. That’s below Blumhouse’s ***Night Swim***, which opened with $11 million back in January. And considering it reunited Blumhouse and Jeff Wadlow, it’s below ***Truth or Dare*** ($18.6 million) and ***Fantasy Island*** ($12 million).
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At the end of the day, there’s not much to say here. Blumhouse is always efficient with budgets, so this should mark a tidy profit. Even with a poor “C+” on CinemaScore. It will face some horror competition with ***Immaculate*** and ***The First Omen*** later on.
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Angel Studios released Alejandro Montaverde’s ***Cabrini*** in 2,840 theaters, where it debuted with a poor $7.1 million. That’s obviously far off from the numbers achieved by ***Sound of Freedom***, and while it’s unlikely they were expecting something high numbers here, they gave it a huge $50 million budget. Even with strong word of mouth (“A” on CinemaScore), it’s not gonna come anywhere close to recouping the budget.
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***Bob Marley: One Love*** dropped 45.1% and added $4 million. The film has earned $89.3 million, and it’s looking more and more likely that it will miss the $100 million milestone.
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In sixth place, ***Ordinary Angels*** dropped 46.9%, grossing $2 million. Its domestic total stands at $16.1 million, and it only has a few millions left in the tank.
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Sony’s ***Madame Web*** has collapsed 65.1% for a $1.1 million weekend. The film has made just $42.6 million and it looks like it will miss $45 million by this point. The film has lost seven of its legs, and it’s now losing the last one.
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In eighth place, Illumination’s ***Migration*** earned $1 million. That represented a rough 57.9% drop, which is its worst one yet, now that it faced animated competition. The film has made $125.2 million.
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Sony released the Chinese box office hit ***YOLO*** in 200 theaters, but the film only made $840,000. Nevertheless, the real money is in China, where it has made a colossal $478 million.
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Rounding up the Top Ten is ***The Chosen: Episodes 7-8***. It dropped a massive 77.3% and added $744,774 to its $6.5 million total.
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A24 released ***Love Lies Bleeding*** in 5 theaters, where it earned $167,463, which translates to a pretty good $33,493 per-theater average. The film will be expanded this weekend.
#**OVERSEAS**
Once again, ***Dune: Part Two*** led the international markets. It grossed $81 million this weekend, lifting its worldwide total to $369.5 million. Its new market was China, where it opened with almost $20 million despite local competition. The best markets are the UK ($24.8M), China ($20M), France ($19.4M), Germany ($18.2M) and Australia ($11.6M). It will open on Japan this Friday, and pass the original’s worldwide gross in a few days.
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***Kung Fu Panda 4*** also opened overseas, although in just 41 markets. It debuted with $23 million, for a $81.6 million worldwide debut. The best debuts were in Spain ($3M), Malaysia ($2.4M), Indonesia ($2.1M), Vietnam ($1.9M), Poland ($1.6M). It also had sneak previews on Argentina ($1.2M), Denmark ($1.2M), Chile ($1.1M), and Singapore ($1M).
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***Bob Marley: One Love*** added $4.9 million, taking its worldwide total to a sweet $160 million worldwide run.
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***Madame Web*** continues bleeding, making just $1.8 million this weekend. Its worldwide total still hasn’t passed $100 million after 4 weeks.
#**MOVIES THAT ENDED THEIR RUN THIS WEEK**
Movie | Release Date | Studio | Domestic Opening | Domestic Total | Worldwide Total | Budget |
———-|———-|———-|:——–:|:——–:|:——–:|:——–:
*Mean Girls* | Jan/12 | Paramount | $28,635,307 | $72,404,248 | $104,304,248 | $35M
*Lisa Frankenstein* | Feb/9 | Focus Features | $3,695,785 | $9,774,285 | $9,896,684 | $13M
– Paramount’s ***Mean Girls*** has closed with $104 million worldwide. That’s profitable, considering it cost just $35 million. At the same time, however, that mark feels quite disappointing, considering the original ***Mean Girls*** earned more domestically and worldwide 20 years ago with less brand recognition. The original is one of the most popular comedies today, so it feels like this could’ve made far, far more. It’s tough to consider this a win for musicals, especially as Paramount hid that aspect from the trailers. A quick buck, but that’s basically it.
– After just one month in theaters, Focus Features has decided to just kill ***Lisa Frankenstein*** for good. It has made only $9.7 million domestically, and the film has most overseas markets. Even with a low budget, it didn’t come anywhere close to recouping it. But is it really a surprise? A horror rom-com starring two unproven stars with very weak reviews? That didn’t stand a chance. Is this going to be like other Diablo Cody films and get a cult following in subsequent years? Only time will tell.
#**THIS WEEKEND**
Lionsgate has another release, and it’s ***Arthur the King***. Based on a true story, it stars Mark Wahlberg as the captain of an adventure racing team who befriends a wounded stray dog named Arthur, who accompanies the team on a grueling 435-mile (700-km) endurance race through the Dominican Republic. The film could have a great run like Channing Tatum’s ***Dog*** two years ago, although the fact that filming started 3 years ago and was dumped by Paramount shows some concern.
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Focus Features is also releasing ***The American Society of Magical Negroes***, starring Justice Smith as a man recruited into a magical society of African Americans to follow their lifelong cause: to make the lives of white people easier. While there was potential for a breakout, it will have to overcome the early reviews (it’s sitting at a poor 35% on RT right now).
#**ANNOUNCEMENT**
Due to real-life stuff, there won’t be a Weekend Actuals write-up next week. You’ll only have an image with the Actuals. The write-up returns March 25 to talk about ***Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire***. Is it gonna succeed or flop?
Source: self.boxoffice
https://www.reddit.com/r/boxoffice/comments/1bcjebx/weekend_actuals_for_march_810_kung_fu_panda_4/
