Po, the charmingly agile panda possessed by the voice of Jack Black, confidently led Kung Fu Panda 3 to the top of the U.S. box office ahead of new entries from Marlon Wayans and Natalie Portman. The well-reviewed DreamWorks sequel managed to pull in $41 million during its opening weekend, Variety reports, placing the fam-friendly movie miles ahead of 50 Shades of Black and Jane Got a Gun.
Last week's champ, the Leonardo DiCaprio Oscar grabber The Revenant, landed in second with $12.4 million and a current domestic total of just over $138 million. Star Wars: The Force Awakens, a surprise indie smash, is still hanging strong in the top three with another $10.8 million for the weekend and a fresh domestic haul of $895.4 million, a.k.a. a lot of money.
50 Shades of Black, Jane Got a Gun, and The Finest Hours largely under-performed during their first week of major release with just $6.2 million, $803,000, and $10.3 million, respectively. The lesson here? Never underestimate pandas. Especially pandas involved with high-budget sequels
