'Kung Fu Panda' fights to the top
published:
Monday | June 9, 2008
Giant Panda Po (above, Jack Black) begins his study under Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman), the trainer of the legendary Furious Five. - Contributed
LOS ANGELES (AP):
Jack Black's Po the panda outgunned Adam Sandler's Zo the hairdresser. Black's cartoon comedy Kung Fu Panda pulled in US$60 million in ticket sales to debut as the weekend's No. 1 movie, while Sandler's salon romp You Don't Mess With the Zohan opened in second place with US$40 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The movies combined to carry Hollywood to a big weekend. The top 12 films took in US$172.4 million, up 32 per cent from the same weekend last year when Ocean's Thirteen led with a US$36.1-million opening.
Bump off previous leader
DreamWorks Animation's Panda and Sony's Zohan bumped off the previous weekend's leader, the Warner Bros chick flick Sex and the City, which slipped to fourth place with US$21.3 million.
That was a steep 63 per cent decline from its US$56.8 million debut, but with a total of US$99.3 million Sex and the City was just shy of US$100-million hit status after only 10 days.
Paramount's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was No. 3 with US$22.8 million, raising its three-week domestic total to US$253 million.
Two strong weekends in a row enabled Hollywood to chip away at its box office deficit compared to 2007, a record year for revenues.
Kung Fu Panda, distributed by Paramount for DreamWorks Animation, has Black providing the voice of the tubby Po, a panda in ancient China who becomes an unlikely martial-arts hero. The voice cast includes Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Lucy Liu and Jackie Chan.
The movie had the best opening ever for a non-sequel cartoon flick from DreamWorks, topping such hits as Shark Tales and Madagascar. Among DreamWorks animated releases, only the second and third Shrek movies did better.
"He's just in his zone. He's incredibly consistent," said Rory Bruer, head of distribution for Sony. "He's the guy that always is going to make you laugh."
Box office top 10
1. Kung Fu Panda
US$60 million.
2. You Don't Mess With the Zohan
US$40 million.
3. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull US$22.8 million.
