Panda Launch

I spent part of Friday morning on DreamWorks' Glendale campus, where red lanterns were hanging from the olive trees, panda characters were marching around the Italianate fountain, and martial arts athletes were demonstrating martial arts moves to a rap audience.

Today, of course, Kung Fu Panda 3 launched day-and-date around the globe:

... DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 3 via 20th Century Fox is on its way to a $13M opening day and a weekend that’s in the $44M-$45M range. That’s not too far from the opening of Kung Fu Panda 2 which played over Memorial Day weekend 2011. ...

Box Office Mojo relates:

... Working in the favor of Kung Fu Panda 3 is the fact the last really strong animated release was Hotel Transylvania 2 in September of last year. Since then, The Good Dinosaur and The Peanuts Movie both broke $100 million domestically, but didn't make any kind of significant impact and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Road Chip continued that franchise's slide upon its release in December. Also, the online ticketing company Fandango reports Kung Fu Panda 3 is outpacing DreamWorks Animation's Home, which opened in March of 2015 with $52.1 million. ...

Internationally, Kung Fu Panda 3 had preview screenings in China last Saturday and brought in an impressive $6.4 million in one day. The film opens day and date in China this weekend as well as in South Korea, Russia, Ukraine, Jamaica and Puerto Rico. ...

The first weekend's worldwide take? Hopefully up there.