‘Kung Fu Panda 3’ Kicks Up $10.5 Million on Friday, Poised for Weekend Win

“Finest Hours,” “Fifty Shades of Black” both headed for rough waters at box office

DreamWorks

“Kung Fu Panda 3” grossed an estimated $10.5 million at the box office on Friday, on its way toward a $40 million opening weekend, well ahead of other newcomers “The Finest Hours” and “Fifty Shades of Black.”

The third installment in the DreamWorks Animation franchise was tracking somewhere between $45 million to $50 million on a $140 million budget. That’s behind the first two films in the franchise, which opened at $60 million and $47.6 million, respectively.

The animated family film, directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson and Alessandro Carloni and featuring the vocals of Jack Black, Angelina Jolie-Pitt, Dustin Hoffman and Bryan Cranston, currently holds a rating of 79 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. “Kung Fu Panda” in 2008 had an 87 percent rating, while the sequel scored 81 percent. CinemaScore filmgoers gave the film a solid “A.”

In a battle of the bears, Leonardo DiCaprio‘s “The Revenant” is looking to take second place this weekend after a successful six-week run so far for Fox.

In third place is Disney’s “The Finest Hours,” the Chris Pine Coast Guard drama that grossed $3.3 million on Friday and is looking to open to roughly $10 million. The film cost $70 million to produce.

Currently holding a A- CinemaScore, “The Finest Hours” stars Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster and Holliday Grainger and was directed by Craig Gillespie. It recounts the real-life story of the Coast Guard trying to save the crew of two oil tankers off Cape Cod in 1952.

Another new wide release, Marlon Wayans‘ spoof film “Fifty Shades of Black,” made an estimated $2.2 million on Friday night, and is looking to come in at No. 10 with a $6 million weekend. Originally, the film was tracking at $10 million based on a $5 million budget.

Wayans produced, wrote and stars in the parody of Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan‘s “Fifty Shades of Grey,” which co-stars Kali Hawk, Fred Willard, Mike Epps and Jane Seymour costarred. But the reviews have been harsh, and the film earned a “C” CinemaScore.

The Weinstein Company’s “Jane Got a Gun,” starring Natalie Portman, Noah Emmerich and Joel Edgerton grossed $277,000 from 1,210 screens on Friday.

The film has had a troubled history: Gavin O’Connor stepped in at the last minute to replace original director Lynne Ramsay, prompting a replacement of many cast members as well. 

“Jane” was one of several films mired in Relativity Media’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing last summer. The Weinstein Company picked up the film from Ryan Kavanaugh‘s studio. 

The film follows Jane Hammond (Portman) who built a new life with husband Bill “Ham” Hammond (Noah Emmerich), but finds herself in trouble when Ham stumbles home after dueling with the Bishop Boys gang. Jane turns to her former finance Dan Frost (Edgerton) to get help for defending her family.

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