Tag Archives: Kung Fu Panda 2

This article reprinted with kind permission of Awards Circuit, and originally linked at The Awards Circuit News Blog

Via Box Office Mojo, The Numbers, Deadline, and other sources:

The supposed box office slump plaguing Hollywood has vanished as this past weekend may ultimately become the biggest Memorial Day weekend of all time, paced by the 1-2 punch of “The Hangover Part II” and “Kung Fu Panda 2″.

THE HANGOVER PART II

First and foremost, the conversation starts with “The Hangover Part II” which delivered the third largest Thursday opening of all time ($31.6 million) and followed it up with the largest R-rated live action comedy opening ever. With a staggering 4-day take of $118.1 million, the film crushed the first film’s 4-day start of $52.6 million. Now granted, things are much different this time around as the first film finished up with $467 million worldwide and one of the most popular comedies of the last several years. Additionally, “The Hangover Part II” was arguably the most anticipated mainstream release of the first half of 2011.

Surviving a tepid critical response, “The Hangover Part II” seemed made of teflon and reviews of a positive or negative vibe would not and did not matter at all. With “Part II” not as fresh or as original as “Part One” and largely a retread of the story and plot from the first film, industry analysts were wondering if word-of-mouth would lead to audiences diminishing as the weekend went on. Clearly, that was and is not the case and this “Hangover” is a certifiable smash.

KUNG FU PANDA 2

Receiving smaller than expected numbers, “Kung Fu Panda 2″ nonetheless brought in an estimated $53.8 million in its opening four days. This effort at counterprogramming was expected to match or exceed the opening weekend of 2008′s “Kung Fu Panda”, as that film began with $60.2 million in 3 days domestically, before earning a massive $631.7 million worldwide haul.

Interestingly, audiences overseas bested the North American box office totals, as “Panda 2″ earned $57 million across the water. The reaction internally is apparently mixed with some analysts saying that when the 5-day count concludes, the film will be precisely where they expected (approximately $65 stateside), while others reportedly felt the film would finish with a bigger figure. Budgeted at $150 million, the film will be profitable worldwide by next weekend, but may struggle to match the domestic take of the first film’s $215 million.

More updates to come through the rest of the Memorial Day weekend, but two films, released on a much smaller scale, turned heads in a big way after the cut!

Read more on Box Office Report: May 27-29, 2011…