Weekend Roundup: Pandattack!

By Katey Rich

The age-old contest between Israeli military fighting tactic krav magaa and the Asian tradition of kung fu has finally been settled. Well, at least if you let Hollywood make these decisions for you. Kung Fu Panda solidly trounced the Adam Sandler vehicle You Don't Mess With the Zohan, though some experts thought the two could come close to a tie. The DreamWorks Animation Panda scored a $60 million opening, while Zohan trailed a bit with $40 million, still plenty good enough for second place.

Just below the newcomers was a bit of a switcheroo, with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull overtaking last weekend's champ, Sex and the City. Indy netted another $22.8 million, bringing its total to an astonishing $253 million, while the ladies of Sex brought in $21.3 million, dropping from #1 to #4. Sex and the City is still just below the $100 million mark in only two weeks, a massive accomplishment for a "chick flick."

Last week's surprise minor hit, the horror offering The Strangers, held on well enough in its second weekend, dropping to #5 with $9.2 million. It bested the reigning champ of this year's box office, Iron Man, which came in at #6 with $7.5 million. And Iron Man continues to wallop the newer The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, which was just below Tony Stark with $5.5 million. It's unfair to think of Caspian, which has netted $125 thus far, as a flop, but it's a good $40 million behind the mark its predecessor, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, had reached by this time in its release. I guess summertime is for CGI pandas, but not CGI centaurs.

Rounding out the top ten were the three remaining bridesmaids to Sex and the City's dominance of the female audience. What Happens in Vegas is hanging in surprisingly well, bringing in $3.4 million for a total of $72 million overall. Baby Mama is also a champ, coming in at #9 with $779,000, a drop in the bucket for its $57 million total. Finally there's Made of Honor, the scrawniest of the bunch, with $775,000 this time around and $44 million. It will most definitely be bumped out of the top 10 this weekend, with twin behemoths The Incredible Hulk and The Happening hitting theatres on Friday.

Below the jump is the full top 20, as always, from Box Office Mojo. The numbers are a little different this time, since the blockbusters continue eating up the money so much that the experts don't even bother with a full top 20. Still, The Visitor continues on as the quietest hit of the spring, having brought in $6 million thus far. A little further down, Mongol opened to a $26,000 per-theatre average in five locations, with When Did You Last See Your Father? and The Promotion faring not nearly as well in limited release.