‘Panda’ cuts off ‘Zohan’
Jack Black’s Po the panda outgunned Adam Sandler’s Zo the hairdresser.
Black’s cartoon comedy “Kung Fu Panda” pulled in $60 million to premiere as the weekend’s No. 1 movie, while Sandler’s salon romp “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan” opened in second place with $40 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The movies combined to carry Hollywood to a big weekend. The top 12 films took in $172.4 million, up 32% from the same weekend last year when “Ocean’s Thirteen” led with a $36.1-million opening.
DreamWorks Animation’s “Panda” and Sony Corp.’s “Zohan” bumped off the previous weekend’s leader, the Warner Bros. chick flick “Sex and the City,” which slipped to fourth place with $21.3 million.
That was a steep 63% decline from its $56.8-million premiere, but with a total of $99.3 million, “Sex and the City” was just shy of $100 million after only 10 days.
Paramount Pictures’ “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” finished at No. 3 with $22.8 million, raising its three-week domestic total to $253 million.
Two strong weekends in a row allowed Hollywood to chip away at its box-office deficit compared with 2007, a record year for revenue.
“This month offers the marketplace the opportunity to catch up with last year,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media by Numbers. “Last year’s June was not as strong as expected and this year’s may be stronger, so we’re definitely narrowing the gap in terms of revenue and attendance.”
Sales are at $3.8 billion this year, off 1.5% from 2007, and attendance is down 4.3%, according to Media by Numbers.
“Kung Fu Panda,” distributed by Paramount for DreamWorks Animation, has Black providing the voice of the tubby Po, a panda in ancient China who becomes an unlikely martial arts hero. The voice cast includes Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Lucy Liu and Jackie Chan.
Although the film played well to families with young children, moviegoers 17 and older made up 71% of the audience, according to Paramount.
“There was strong appeal for this movie in the tweens, teens and general audience beyond the core families and kids,” said Anne Globe, head of marketing for DreamWorks. “Certainly, families and kids also showed up in droves, but we really have the opportunity to play as a broad comedy too.”
“Kung Fu Panda” had the best opening ever for a non-sequel cartoon flick from DreamWorks, topping such hits as “Shark Tale” and “Madagascar.” Among DreamWorks animated releases, only the second and third “Shrek” movies did better.
“You Don’t Mess With the Zohan” features Sandler as an Israeli commando who fakes his death so he can live out his dream to become a hairstylist in New York. The movie came in on par with other comedies from Sandler, whose top four past openings range from “The Longest Yard” at $47.6 million to “Click” at $40 million.
“He’s just in his zone. He’s incredibly consistent,” said Rory Bruer, Sony’s distribution chief. “He’s the guy that always is going to make you laugh.”
