'Panda 2' breaks China box office mark

'Kung Fu Panda 2'

That didn't last long.Paramount-DreamWorks Animation's "Kung Fu Panda 2" has established a new opening day mark for a foreign release in China just a week after Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" set the record."Panda 2," which opened Saturday, and took in $18.5 million over the two-day weekend (based on Sunday's estimates), eclipsed the opening-day mark for "Pirates 4," which opened on a Friday, and stashed away $19 million over a three-day weekend, according to Paramount. In making its mark, the pic leveraged the rapid growth of the Chinese box office and the 3D format, along with a theme seemingly tailor-made for Chinese auds. "Panda 2" was boosted by its Imax partnership in China, where the film played at 22 locations for two-day total of $720,000. That averages to $32,727 per screen -- an impressive figure in its own right -- but made even more significant considering the toon had to share those screens with "Stranger Tides." (Both pics had roughly three showings per day per screen.)The format continues to be a major driver in China, especially for family films. "Panda 2" wound up playing on more than 4,000 Chinese 3D screens, almost 75% of its total 5,540 screens.Par vice chairman Rob Moore said 3D will have the biggest upside internationally, but admitted that the studio has marketed the film as a 3D event to help entice U.S. auds too."In the U.S. and most English-speaking markets, 3D has performed movie-by-movie," Moore said. "But there's no question that in some of the more expanding markets overseas, 3D certainly has been a big deal."

Contact Andrew Stewart at andrew.stewart@variety.com

Source: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118037758?categoryid=13&cs=1&cmpid=RSS%7CNews%7CLatestNews

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