Box Office Report: Kung Fu Sandworms

By Kayleigh Donaldson | Film | March 11, 2024 |

By Kayleigh Donaldson | Film | March 11, 2024 |

By the time this post goes live, the Oscars will have taken place. Congratulations to the winners, commiserations to the losers, and wasn’t that one moment super fun/awkward/shocking? I know, right? We’ll see a tangible post-awards season impact on the box office next week, depending on who won, but for now, Jack Black is in charge.

Kung Fu Panda 4 opened in the top spot with $58.3 million from just over 4,000 theatres. This is a sturdy Dreamworks franchise that has always done very well and this fourquel (?) is set to replicate that strong business. It was certainly enough to overtake Dune: Part Two, which still held on strongly in its second week with $46 million from a similar number of cinemas.

Denis Villeneuve and his sandworms are doing gangbusters right now. Domestically, they’ve pulled in $157 million in a fortnight, and worldwide, their gross is over $367.5 million. Remember, the first film made $434.8 million, which was impressive business given the impact of lockdown. This one is most certainly going to overtake that gross. Bring on Dune Messiah. More sandworms!

Debuting at number three is the horror movie Imaginary with $10 million, and right behind that is Cabrini, a historical drama about a real-life Catholic missionary in 19th-century New York, with $7,565,038. This movie is the latest release from Angel Studios, and new project of Alejandro Gómez Monteverde, the guy who made, uh, Sound of Freedom.

At number nine is the film Yolo with $840,000 from 200 locations. This is currently the highest-grossing film of 2024 so far. It’s a Chinese comedy by Jia Ling, who previously made the film Hi, Mom, which is the third highest-grossing non-English language film ever made. She was also the highest-grossing woman director until Barbie. Ling is a very big deal, and for this film, wherein she plays a social outcast who decides to train as a boxer, she gained 20kg then lost it as part of the production. That’s become a major story in China for obvious reasons.

In limited releases: The wonderful lesbian bodybuilder noir Love Lies Bleeding earned $167,463 from five theatres; and Accidental Texan, a comedy-drama with cowboy elements but no lesbians, grossed $141,270 from 134 locations.

This coming week sees the wide release of Love Lies Bleeding and the inspirational biographical drama One Life.

You can check out the rest of the weekend box office here.