Box Office Weekend: Family-Friendly Kung Fu Panda 3 Takes Weekend

There was no battle, no contest, nor were a flurry of blows necessary as Kung Fu Panda 3 took the weekend box office with no real competition with an estimated $41 million. Though the weakest start for the franchise domestically, the latest entry looks set to rake it in big in overseas dollars, as have the previous films, already bringing in $116.7 million in worldwide gross. The Revenant, too, is banking on those overseas dollars to break even, though an estimated $12.4 million is adding to a $138.2 million domestic total that seemed far off when it first debuted. And as far as Star Wars: The Force Awakens is concerned…well, though an estimated $10.8 million brings it within spitting distance of an unheard of $900 million domestic total (which it could easily do, already bringing in $895.4 million in seven weeks), it may have to settle for third in worldwide totals behind the two-movie legacy of James Cameron. At an absolutely impressive $1.98 billion in worldwide revenue, it looks more and more likely that it may not be able to cover the $200 million needed to top Titanic, nor the $800 million to push out Avatar.

The sea epic The Finest Hours debuted to a decidedly mixed reception both critically and financially, with only an estimated $10.3 million lining its coffers. Ride Along 2, in the meantime, does not appear likely to do as well as the original film (whose $134.9 million domestic total is nearly twice what the sequel has earned so far), but it will likely become a minor success, even with a third week estimate of $8.3 million. The Boy, however, continues to prove the old “cheap horror/big returns” adage as the $10 million production broke even after picking up an estimated $7.9 million. Dirty Grandpa has not released its budget, but with star Robert De Niro in tow, the likelihood of its estimated $7.6 million weekend earnings and $22.8 million total domestic gross being enough to make it profitable is very slim indeed.

The bottom rungs of the top ten also belong to some of the less profitable entries as well. The latest young adult/dystopian sci-fi action flick, The 5^th Wave, has not sparked much interest, an estimated $7 million bringing in a dismal $20.2 million on a $38 million budget. While it may be a cheap enough film in the long run, the massively panned parody Fifty Shades of Black opened to an estimated $6.2 million and little else to speak of. Also, Michael Bay has a financial disappointment on his hands. Though better received overall than his Transformers films critically, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, with an estimated $6 million weekend, has so far only brought in $42.6 million at the box office on a $50 million budget, and his worst earning film in a decade.

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Seth Paul

When not failing to write novels and screenplays, box-office guru Seth writes humorous comedy tracks for films under the name "The One Man Band" that can be found at Rifftrax.com. Although, he has recently succeeded in writing the novella "Jack Alan and the Case of the Not-Exactly Rocket Scientists," available as an eBook on Amazon. He is also the English voice of Zak in "Zak McKracken: Between Time and Space."

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