Box office: ‘Kung Fu Panda 4,’ ‘Dune: Part Two’ remain atop slower March weekend

Edward Douglas
·4 min read

March has been going along well, but only one new wide release made much of a mark this weekend as “Kung Fu Panda 4” and “Dune: Part Two” continued to reign over all, including an actual “king.” Read on for the weekend box office report.

After scoring one of the second-best openings of 2024, the animated “Kung Fu Panda 4” held onto first place for a second weekend in a row, winning Friday with $8.8 million and then repeating with an estimated $30 million for the weekend, down 48% from its opening weekend. It has grossed $107.7 million in its first 10 days in North America. It added another $39.6 million in 56 international territories for a global weekend of $69.6 million and a global total of $176.5 million.

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Denis Villeneuve‘s sci-fi epic “Dune: Part Two” crossed the $200 million mark domestically in its third weekend, making it the first movie to cross that milestone since “Wonka.” This weekend, it added another $29.1 million, down 37%, to take second place with $205.3 million domestic.

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Mark Wahlberg starred in the combination dog and sports movie “Arthur the King,” released by Lionsgate into 3,003 theaters with mixed-positive reviews. After making $3 million on Friday, including $825,000 in previews, it brought in an estimated $7.5 million to take third place. As the only new movie in over 2,000 theaters to report to CinemaScore, “Arthur the King” received an “A” from audiences polled, which is a good sign for business from positive word-of-mouth.

The Blumhouse horror movie “Imaginary” held up surprisingly well in its second weekend, dropping just 44% to take fourth place with $5.6 million, bringing its domestic total to $19.1 million.

Angel Studios’ biopic “Cabrini” took a bigger hit in its second weekend, dropping 61% to fifth place with $2.8 million and $13 million grossed in North America so far.

Rose Glass‘s crime-thriller “Love Lies Bleeding,” starring Kristen Stewart, expanded nationwide into 1,362 theaters, allowing it to move into the Top 10 with $2.5 million to take sixth place with $2.8 million grossed so far.

“Bob Marley: One Love” claimed seventh place with $2.3 million, down 44% as it brought its domestic total to $93.4 million.

Anthony Hopkins starred in the true-life Holocaust drama “One Life,” which Bleecker Street released into a moderate 983 theaters on Friday, which allowed it to make $1.7 million this weekend, averaging $1,740 per theater to open in eighth place this weekend.

Focus Features released Kobi Libii‘s “The American Society of Magical Negroes,” starring Justice Smith and David Alan Grier, into 1,147 theaters on Friday, but it barely got into the Top 10 with an estimated $1.3 million. Reviews after its Sundance premiere weren’t great, which didn’t help matters, so expect this to be on Peacock soon enough.

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The Korean horror film “Exhuma” from Go West USA opened in just three L.A. theaters on Friday but managed to gross $66k or $21.8k per location.

Micheal Keaton‘s crime-drama “Knox Goes Away” ended up getting a fairly wide release into 750 theaters, but Saban Films hasn’t reported box office as of yet.

Even after last weekend’s showing, two-thirds of players in the Gold Derby box office game had “Dune: Part Two” winning over “Kung Fu Panda” — hey, it was pretty close — but also, a majority had the top movie making between $25 and $50 million and had “Arthur the King” taking third place, so that’s good.

Only two players went 6-for-6 in the March 8 game with last year’s board leader, “MellowDrama,” having the highest point score with 56,240, thanks to his Super Bets on “Dune” and “Bob Marley.”

On Friday, Sony releases the comedy sequel, “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” while Sydney Sweeney stars in the religious horror film, “Immaculate,” so check back on Wednesday for the weekend preview on how they might do.

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