'Kung Fu Panda' wins B.O. battle
Animated feature nabs $60 million
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DreamWorks Animation and Paramount’s “Kung Fu Panda” easily won the weekend box office, grossing an estimated $60 million from 4,114 theaters and delivering the best-ever opening for a non-sequel DWA toon. It is the third-highest opening for any DWA pic after “Shrek the Third” and “Shrek 2.”
Sony’s Adam Sandler summer laffer “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan” also enjoyed a successful debut. Irreverent comedy grossed an estimated $40 million from 3,462 runs, furthering Sandler’s standing as a top B.O. star.
“Zohan” and “Panda” -- the latter toplining the voice of Jack Black -- proved a potent combo. Weekend was up more than 30% vs. the same frame last year, when “Ocean’s Thirteen” led with a $36.1 million opening and toon “Surf’s Up” disappointed in only opening to $17.6 million.
Elsewhere, New Line and Warner Bros.’ “Sex and the City” almost jumped the $100 million mark at the domestic box office in its second weekend, although it declined a steep 63% to $22.8 million from 3,325 runs for a cume of $99.3 million.
Box office gurus had predicted such a drop, considering the boffo opening of “Sex and the City.” Film also enjoyed strong weekday numbers. It’s likely that women with children were otherwise occupied over the weekend taking kids to “Panda.” Females also made up more than half of “Zohan’s” aud.
Paramount’s “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” crossed the $250 million mark at the B.O. and narrowly beat “Sex and the City” to come in No. 3. Tentpole declined 49% to an estimated $22.8 million from 4,190 screens in its third frame for a cume of $253 million.
The specialty side of the biz also saw success over the frame as Picturehouse’s Genghis Khan epic “Mongol” nabbed the highest per-location average of the weekend --$26,627 -- in grossing $133,136 from five theaters in Gotham and L.A.
The race between “Panda” and “Zohan” was expected to be much closer, but “Panda” far exceeded expectations that it would tally box office in the high-$30 million to low $40 million range. It success seemed to reflect pent-up demand for appealing family films in the marketplace.
“Panda,” with a per-screen average of $14,584, is the first bonafide family hit of the summer, and is the first toon to unspool at the B.O. since Easter tentpole “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!” It also played to young adults.
“It provides a great mix of action, comedy and lots of heart, which appeals to every member of a family. It’s a great start for us,” said DreamWorks Animation’s worldwide marketing topper Anne Globe.
Friday’s gross of $20.3 million was particularly strong for a family film, indicating that “Panda” also got teenagers and young adults. The Friday-to-Saturday jump was minimal, whereas most family films see big Saturday gains.
With its cast of characters -- voiced by Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Ian McShane and Dustin Hoffman -- “Panda” is a natural film franchise.
Roughly 41% of the audience was parents, while 17% were under the age of 12. Of the overall aud, 12% were teenagers. “Panda” nabbed the best exit polls of any DreamWorks Animation film, besting those for “Shrek 2,” and received an A- CinemaScore. Pic skewed female, at 55%.
In terms of why “Panda” played more broadly, Globe said Black was a big draw for young adults, explaining Friday’s high haul.
Sony likewise pointed to “Zohan’s” star, Adam Sandler, in touting that pic’s opening.
“There’s no one who can open a film more consistently than Adam. It just doesn’t happen,” said Sony prexy of domestic distribution Rory Bruer. “It was a great weekend for the movie business.”
“Zohan” -- penned by Sandler, Robert Smigel and Judd Apatow --played strongly among young adults and teens, with 49% of the aud under the age of 25. Rated PG-13, the comedy skewed slightly female at 51%.
Laffer tied with “Click” in being the fifth best opening for a Sandler pic. “Zohan” bested last summer’s $34.2 million bow for Sandler’s “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.” Sandler’s top opener is “The Longest Yard” ($47.6 million).
Produced by Sandler and Jack Giarraputo, “Zohan” offers a humorous viewpoint of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while its more raunchy side is in keeping with other Apatow-penned pics. Film received a B- CinemaScore.
“Zohan” sucked much of the air out of the comedy space, with several top laffers, not just “Sex and the City,” posting some of their biggest declines so far this summer,
Twentieth Century Fox’s sleeper hit “What Happens in Vegas” declined 49%, its steepest dip yet, to $3.4 million for a cume of $72.3 million in its fifth frame.
“Zohan,” also starring John Turturro and Emmanuelle Chriqui, has one more weekend to play before the next two summer comedies, “Get Smart” and “The Love Guru,” bow on June 20.
Placing No. 5 for the weekend was Universal and Rogue’s horror pic “The Strangers,” which declined 56% in its second weekend to an estimated $9.3 million from 2,477 runs for a cume of $37.6 million. Film cost $9 million to produce.
On the specialty side, “Mongol” marks one of the last releases for Bob Berney’s Picturehouse, which Warner Bros. has decided to shutter. The 2007 Kazakh film, directed by Russian filmmaker Sergei Bodrov, was nominated for an Oscar in the foreign-language category.
“I think people respect the fact that the film is really old-school. There aren’t a lot of special effects,” Berney said. “It’s also a great balance of action and a love story.”
Among other new specialty offerings, Sony Pictures Classics’ father-son drama “When Did You Last See Your Father?” toplining Jim Broadbent and Colin Firth, posted a per-location average of $5,135 in grossing an estimated $41,082 from eight runs.
