‘Kung Fu Panda 3’ Surprises In Its 3rd Weekend, ‘Zootopia’ Posts First International Numbers

We’ve already talked about last weekend’s box office king, but the other story that went largely unnoticed was Kung Fu Panda 3′s strong hold in its third weekend.

The Fox/DreamWorks Animation film surprised everyone by dipping a tiny 6.8% in its third weekend, grossing an estimated $19.8 million. Adding in Monday’s total for the four-day President’s Day holiday, the film took in an estimated $26 million.

KFP3′s strong weekend pushed the total U.S. box office past $100 million yesterday. It took the film 18 days to reach the milestone; the original 2008 film reached the $100m mark in just 9 days, the second reached in 11 days.

Internationally, KFP3 added $14.6m to its coffers, lifting its international total to $162.2m. In its biggest market, China, the film picked up $10.7m, good for sixth place and a $124.4m total. The film’s questionable pre-Lunar New Year release in China is generally acknowledged as having hurt the film’s box office potential.

Meanwhile, Disney’s Zootopia started its international rollout last weekend, opening in 3 markets (Spain, Belgium, and Denmark). In Spain, where it is known as Zootropolis, the film picked up $2.8m, which is slightly less than Hotel Transylvania 2 and Inside Out, and less than half of Minions’ opening weekend. Its three-market total was $4.5m.

Zootopia opens this week in Mexico, France, Italy, and South Korea, ahead of its March 4 U.S. launch.

In other U.S. box office news, the Oscar-nominated Anomalisa picked up $95,000 from 72 theaters over the four-day holiday. Its total U.S. gross to date is $2.4m. The not-Oscar-nominated Norm of the North earned $150,000 over the same period, boosting its total to $16.5m.