Kung Fu Panda was the big winner at the box office this weekend. The Paramount DreamWorks production released on June 6th in 4,000 theaters and earned a respectable $60 million to take the top spot. Don’t Mess with the Zohan ended up in second spot with $40 million. Indiana Jones 4 brought in $22.8 million, in it’s third weekend.
The debut, about $15 million above projections, not only cracked the top five openings for original animated movies and loosened Pixar Studios’ grip on the genre, but it did so with a surprisingly grown-up crowd. According to a studio exit poll, 71% of the audience was 17 and older, and 51% of Panda-goers were older than 25.
Hollywood celebrities lending their voices to the project include Jack Black as Po, Angelina Jolie as Tigress, Lucy Liu as Viper and Dustin Hoffman as Shifu.
The animated comedy tells the story of a lazy, irreverent slacker panda, Po, who must somehow become a Kung Fu Master in order to save the Valley of Peace from a villainous snow leopard, Tai Lung. Set in the legendary world of ancient China, this is the story of Po, our unlikely hero, who enters the rigid world of Kung Fu and turning it upside down.
Check out more photos and the movie trailer below.
Check out Kung Fu Panda trailer below.