"Kung Fu Panda 3" has topped the box office this weekend, kicking the Oscar-nominated film "The Revenant" off the top spot, while new releases like, "Fifty Shades of Black" by Open Road, "The Finest Hours" by Buena Vista and Weinstein Co.'s "Jane Got Gun," failed to find audiences, according to the Los Angeles Times.
DreamWorks Animation's latest panda franchise earned approximately $41 million in Canada and the United States alone. The film exceeded $35 million, which is the estimated earnings projected by analysts.
"It's a terrific opening weekend," said Chris Aronson, 20th Century Fox's president of domestic distribution. "'Kung Fu Panda' is a very popular property and Po is such a beloved character. I think DreamWorks has done a terrific job of keeping this franchise vibrant."
A number of celebrity voices are featured in "Kung Fu Panda 3," including Angelina Jolie, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Jack Black, Jackie Chan and Lucy Liu. Jolie's children also contributed to the film by having their voices recorded as well.
Polling firm CinemaScore said audiences gave the film an A grade, while 80 percent of the movie critics on the website Rotten Tomatoes showed a thumbs up.
"We're 70% family, but that's also a huge percentage of non-families," Aronson said. "We've got a terrific window (to find an even greater audience) because we're going to own this space for about a month."
Meanwhile, the animated movie also had an outstanding performance in international territories like China. Over the weekend, the film grossed $57 million in the country, reported Forbes.
"Kung Fu Panda 3" was animated in two versions, so it would be able to match the speech in Mandarin and English. This cost the studio $140 million.
On the other hand, "The Revenant" comes in second place. It pulled in $12.4 million this weekend, which is the film's sixth week. It continues to show its endurance at the box office, thanks to its 12 Oscar nominations. The movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio, who won top awards at Saturday's SAG Awards, revealed Fox News.