Kung Fu Panda 4 at No 1 on North American box office charts for 2nd week

Dune: Part Two came in second place. 

Kung Fu Panda 4 stayed at the top of the North American box office in its second weekend in theatres. The Universal and DreamWorks Animation movie earned US$30 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates on Sunday (Mar 17).

The franchise featuring the voice of Jack Black is responsible for over US$1.9 billion at the box office since it launched in 2008 and spawned several animated series, shorts, video games and a holiday special. The fourth installment, playing in 4,067 locations in North America, has already made US$107.7 million domestically.

There were several new movies arriving in over 1,000 theatres (or expanding) this weekend, including Lionsgate’s Mark Wahlberg dog movie Arthur The King, Focus Features’ comedic satire The American Society Of Magical Negroes and A24’s Kristen Stewart-led bodybuilding thriller Love Lies Bleeding.

But the charts still belonged to the franchises, including Dune: Part Two, which came in a very close second in its third weekend, with US$29.1 million. That's down only 37 per cent from last weekend. It’s now made US$205.3 million domestically. The first film, which was released simultaneously in theatres and on streaming, capped out at around US$435 million globally, while Part Two is already at almost US$500 million worldwide.

Arthur The King did the best of the newcomers, landing in third place with US$7.5 million from 3,003 locations. The studio went into the weekend expecting something in the US$8 million to US$10 million range. Its low production cost and international presales should yield profits.

Directed by Simon Cellan Jones and written by Michael Brandt, the movie is based on the true story of an adventure racer who befriends a stray dog on a perilous 435-mile trek in the Dominican Republic.

Simu Liu plays one of Wahlberg’s teammates. With an A CinemaScore, the studio is hoping positive word of mouth will boost sales in the coming weeks.

Love Lies Bleeding opened in 1,362 locations to US$2.5 million. Written and directed by Rose Glass (Saint Maud), it’s a pulpy ’80s-set Western thriller about an isolated gym manager (Stewart) and a bodybuilder (Katy O’Brian) passing through town.

The American Society of Magical Negroes opened in 1,147 theatres and made an estimated US$1.3 million. According to exit data, 52 per cent of the opening weekend audience was black. The movie, written and directed by Kobi Libii, is a satire about a secret society of black people dedicated to making white lives easier. Justice Smith and David Alan Grier star.

In the first weekend following the Oscars, Poor Things added US$2.3 million globally, bumping its total to US$112.6 million.

Next weekend, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire will arrive in theatres, armed with proton packs and brand name recognition.

“When there’s not a newcomer dominating the marketplace, it makes for a rather slow weekend,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “Now we’re just waiting for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. That combo should take us out of the month of March on a high note.”

He added: “We’re going to have to have a lot of patience until we get to May and The Fall Guy and the summer movie season. But there’s some great movies on the way.”