After last weekend’s blizzard kept East Coast audiences at home, the box office is headed for a nice rebound – thanks largely to Po the Panda. Five years after Dreamworks’ last big screen installment in the Kung Fu Panda franchise, Po is back in Kung Fu Panda 3. The animated feature earned an estimated $10.5 million from 3,955 locations yesterday, including 3D and large format venues. That suggests the threequel’s three-day opening will top $40 million, which would make it the third-highest January debut of all time.

Last weekend’s top film, The Revenant, was third on Friday’s chart but is expected to climb back to second by tomorrow. The Fox feature earned an estimated $3.2 million from 3,330 locations yesterday, towards an expected $11.5 million for its fourth weekend in wide release. If realized, that would equal a hold of approximately -27% - especially impressive considering The Revenant lost 381 theatres this weekend.

Disney’s The Finest Hours opened in second place on Friday. The real-life Coast Guard thriller took in an estimated $3.3 million from 3,143 locations, 85% of those in 3D and large format. Though The Finest Hours received an A- from CinemaScore audiences, it is not expected to top $10 million through Sunday. That’s less than Ron Howard’s In The Heart of the Sea earned in its opening back in December, and that particular seafaring pic has yet to hit $25 million domestic.

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Friday’s third new release failed to make it into the top five. Fifty Shades of Black, a spoof of last February’s record-setting Fifty Shades of Grey, earned a reported $2.25 million from 2,075 locations. That was good enough for seventh place yesterday, though expect this Fifty Shades to fall lower on the weekend chart with a projected total of just $6.5 million.


Of course things could always be worse. Also new this weekend is Jane Got a Gun, the Natalie Portman Western distributed by The Weinstein Co. Jane missed the top ten altogether, earning just $277,000 from 1,210 locations. On a more positive note, last weekend’s new releases, including horror pic The Boy, are expected to see strong holds as the box office continues to recover from winter storm Jonas.

We’ll have full details on the weekend box office tomorrow.

 Title

Friday

Total

1.

 Kung Fu Panda 3

$10,500,000

$10.5

2.

 The Finest Hours

$3,312,000

$3.3

3.

 The Revenant

$3,220,000

$128.9

4.

 Star Wars: The Force Awakens

$2,459,000

$887.1

5.

 The Boy

$2,310,000

$15.9