January is a notoriously awful time for movies, but don’t tell that to Kung Fu Panda 3, because it may just kick you in the face and go break some box-office records. The Jack Black–starring sequel to Kung Fu Panda and Kung Fu Panda 2 made $41 million, crushing the previous January animated movie opening-weekend record of $19.4 million held by The Nut Job. It also broke the record for largest animated movie opening ever in China, where it made $57 million. It may also become the second-largest January opening of all time in America, behind Ride Along’s $41.5 million from 2014. (Remember, January is a really, really awful month for movies.)
The Revenant, for which Leonardo DiCaprio ate raw bison liver, brought in $12.4 million while Star Wars: The Force Awakens added another $10.7 million to its cume, which is just $5 million shy of $900 million. Internationally, it’s now up to $1.983 billion. The Finest Hours, in which Chris Pine tries to save Casey Affleck during a storm, made $10.3 million, around the same as the similarly-themed aquatic disaster movie (but with a Moby-Dick twist) In the Heart of the Sea. Fifty Shades of Black made $6.1 million, coming in just ahead of 13 Hours. The Natalie Portman–starring western Jane Got a Gun disappointed badly with $803,000 in 1,210 theaters, by far the worst opening of Portman’s career.
