‘Kung Fu Panda 4’ Pushes Franchise Past $2 Billion With Impressive Third Weekend

Dreamworks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 4, directed by Mike Mitchell and co-directed by Stephanie Ma Stine, topped the global box office over the weekend, grossing an estimated $72 million worldwide.

That was enough to push the Kung Fu Panda franchise past the $2 billion mark, joining fellow Dreamworks properties Madagascar ($2.27 billion) and Shrek ($4.03 billion) in achieving that milestone.

Kung Fu Panda 4′s offshore total for the weekend was $55.3 million after adding 13 new markets over its third weekend of release. The film debuted in first place in China, pulling in a good-not-great $26 million box office, and in Brazil, where it was top again with Dreamworks’ second-best opening ever of $2.5 million in the territory. Other top spot debuts came in Italy ($4.4 million) and the Netherlands ($1.5 million).

Domestically, the Universal-distributed film finished in third place at the box office, grossing $16.8 million from 3,805 theaters. Kung Fu Panda 4′s North American tally now sits at $133.2 million.

Most box office sites are saying that KFP4 is on the way to outgrossing the second and third films in the franchise but will likely fall short of the original’s lifetime box office total of $631.7 million.

Disney finished the last step of its ill-fated plan to put three pandemic-era Pixar pictures in cinemas by releasing Luca in 1,390 theaters. The film grossed just $550,000, for a lowly per-screen average of $395. Those numbers are on par with the lackluster opening weekends of Soul and Turning Red.