Dreamworks’ Kung Fu Panda easily took the box office crown this weekend with an estimated total of $60 million, leading a strong field that included four films that grossed over $20 million.  Overall the box office was up more than 20% for the second week in a row as Hollywood appears to be well on its way to overcoming a weak opening to the all-important summer season.  For Dreamworks, Kung Fu Panda managed the strongest opening yet for a non-sequel animated film and it ranks sixth on the all time list of original animated openings, just behind Pixar’s Cars, which debuted with $60.1 million. 

With strong reviews (85% positive on Rotten Tomatoes), an unexpected appeal to older viewers (45% were over 25), a CinemaScore of A-, and a lack of competition for its target audience until Pixar’s Wall-E opens in three weeks, Kung Fu Panda should be able to demonstrate considerable legs during the rest of this month, which is good news for retailers.  Inkworks has produced Kung Fu Panda Trading Cards, and Insight Editions is releasing The Art of Kung Fu Panda ($45), a glossy coffee table art book that takes full advantage of the superb backgrounds created for the film.

Adam Sandler’s comedy Don’t Mess With the Zohan finished in second place with a respectable $40 million debut.  The predominantly male (60%) audience for Sandler comedies won’t be influenced by the movie’s bad reviews (only 36% positive), but the film’s mediocre CinemaScore of B- could indicate that word-of-mouth could have a negative effect in the weeks to come.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull dropped just 49% during its third weekend at the box office, earning an estimated $22.8 million and finishing third while running its cumulative to $253 million.  The fourth Indy film will likely finish well over $300 million and should eventually catch and surpass Iron Man, which earned $7.5 million during its sixth weekend of release.  With a cumulative of $289 million, Iron Man should make it past the $300 million barrier either next week or (more likely) the week after.

Disney’s The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian dropped 56% to finish with an estimated $5.5 million and bring its disappointing cumulative to just $125 million after a nearly month in theaters.  If Prince Caspian is a disappointment, then Warner Bros.' Speed Racer, which plummeted 84% and earned just $370,000, is a full out box office disaster.  It may be able to redeem itself on DVD, but with a domestic total of just $42 million and a foreign total of only $36 million, the Wachowski brothers’ $120 million candy-colored, green-screen extravaganza has to rate as the “bomb” of the summer so far.