Jack Black's kung fu fighting panda has come out triumphantly over Adam Sandler's superagent hairstylist on the North American box office estimation tally this weekend.
- Jun 9, 2008
AceShowbiz - Coming out in theaters on the same weekend on June 6, the two potentially high-grossing summer movies, "Kung Fu Panda" and "You Don't Mess With the Zohan", seek to beat the other at the weekend box office and like in every other competition, there will always be a winner. In this case, the big lazy panda aspiring to be kung fu legend outgunned the Mossad agent turned hairstylist by landing atop box office chart and proved critics wrong securing a strong lead against "Zohan".
Though most box office watchers predicted that "Panda" and "Zohan" will have a tight race on the ticket sales, the animation comedy offered a big surprise when it debuted with $60.2 million, over $20 million more than the "Zohan" opening of $38.5 million. The DreamWorks Animation's tidbit featuring the voices of Jack Black and Angelina Jolie has shown its solid run since Friday, June 6, by grossing $20.3 million, while "Zohan" earned nearly $15 million.
Aside from securing the top spot, "Panda" becomes the latest high-grossing animated movie ever been released by DreamWorks. In fact, up to date, it is the best-ever opening for a non-sequel DreamWorks Animation's cartoon and third highest-opening DWA's animation after "Shrek the Third" and "Shrek 2". Additionally, in the overall category, "Panda" is placed ninth on the all-time list of animated opening.
On the terms of "Zohan", despite losing the race to the top slot, the Columbia Pictures' comedy flick can still be considered to be garnering a moderate success. Mostly slammed down by critics, the movie proved Adam Sandler's appeal to audience by scoring big on the runner-up position. This film is Sandler's fifth best opening tying up with his other comedy film "Click" and beats out the opening score of his last summer's comedy "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry".
Besides the two top movies, the top five grossing movies this weekend which ended on Sunday, June 8, include "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", "Sex and the City" and "The Strangers" respectively. Harrison Ford's starring action adventure "Crystal Skull" once again slipped down the ladder to the third spot raking in another $22.8 million to the total of $253 million. Following it tightly on the next place is romantic comedy "SATC" which grossed $21.2 million, while rounding up the top five is horror thriller flick "Strangers" that pulled in $8.9 million.
