Kung Fu Panda 4just squeaks byDune: Part Twoen route to winning the weekendbox office. After a very slow January and February to kick off 2024, things are heating up in March. And according to the estimates, Jack Black’s return as Master Po Ping will repeat as the No. 1 movie in domestic theaters for the second weekend in a row. But it was an extremely close race.
Kung Fu Panda 4
According toThe Numbers, less than $1 million separated No. 1Kung Fu Panda 4($30 million) and No. 2Dune: Part Two($29.1 million) over the weekend as both films continue to perform well after their respective theatrical releases. To date,Kung Fu Panda 4has made $176.5 million worldwide, whileDune 2has amassed $494.7 million globally after three weekends.
In such a close race for the top spot at the box office,Dune: Part Twowas able to compete, even with three weekends under its belt, because it only dropped off 37% between its second and third weekends. And had director Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi sequel not lost 227 of its theaters since last week,Dune 2might very well have wrestled No. 1 away fromKung Fu Panda 4.
Arthur the King Debuts at No. 3
Whilelast week’s box office champ,Kung Fu Panda 4, managed to repeat as No. 1 at the domestic box office, Mark Wahlberg had to settle for the bronze medal over the weekend. Wahlberg’s new film,Arthur the King, checks in at No. 3 with $7.5 million. At the time of this writing, there aren’t any international numbers available forArthur the King, and director Simon Cellan Jones' film still has some way to go in recouping its $20 million budget.
Lionsgate and Blumhouse’sImaginaryheld up pretty well between its first and second weekends, with only a 44% drop, as director Jeff Wadlow’s horror flick takes the No. 4 spot with $5.6 million. AndCabrinirounds out the Top 5 with $2.8 million. Meanwhile, A24’sLove Lies Bleeding— which featurestheTwilight Saga’sown Kristen Stewart— leapfrogs all the way to No. 6, during its second week of release, with $2.5 million.Love Lies Bleedingopened in limited release (five theaters) last weekend, but has now expanded to 1,362 cinemas.
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Bleecker Streets’One Life($1.7 million) and Focus Features’The American Society of Magical Negroes($1.3 million) didn’t fare nearly as well as their fellow newcomer,Arthur the King, this weekend. However, both films managed to make enough money to crack the Top 10 at No. 8 and No. 9 respectively. And this week’s largest per-theater average goes to director Jang Jae-hyun’s supernatural horror film,Exhuma,which opened in limited release (three theaters).Exhumamade $65,500 for an impressive per-theater take of $21,883.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empirelooks to heat up the box office even more when it opens on March 22, andGodzilla x Kong: The New Empirewill take its turn the following week on March 29.
