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‘Kung Fu Panda 4’ Repeats at No. 1 on the Box Office Charts

16 March 2024, Australia, Sydney: Movie character "PO" poses at the Australian Premiere of "Kung Fu Panda 4" at Event Cinemas Bondi Junction on in Sydney. (dpa)
16 March 2024, Australia, Sydney: Movie character "PO" poses at the Australian Premiere of "Kung Fu Panda 4" at Event Cinemas Bondi Junction on in Sydney. (dpa)
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‘Kung Fu Panda 4’ Repeats at No. 1 on the Box Office Charts

16 March 2024, Australia, Sydney: Movie character "PO" poses at the Australian Premiere of "Kung Fu Panda 4" at Event Cinemas Bondi Junction on in Sydney. (dpa)
16 March 2024, Australia, Sydney: Movie character "PO" poses at the Australian Premiere of "Kung Fu Panda 4" at Event Cinemas Bondi Junction on in Sydney. (dpa)

“Kung Fu Panda 4” stayed at the top of the North American box office in its second weekend in theaters. The Universal and DreamWorks Animation movie earned $30 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The franchise featuring the voice of Jack Black is responsible for over $1.9 billion at the box office since it launched in 2008 and spawned several animated series, shorts, video games and a holiday special. The fourth installment, playing in 4,067 locations in North America, has already made $107.7 million domestically.

There were several new movies arriving in over 1,000 theaters (or expanding) this weekend, including Lionsgate’s Mark Wahlberg dog movie “Arthur the King,” Focus Features’ comedic satire “The American Society of Magical Negroes” and A24’s Kristen Stewart-led bodybuilding thriller “Love Lies Bleeding.”

But the charts still belonged to the franchises, including “Dune: Part Two,” which came in a very close second in its third weekend, with $29.1 million. That's down only 37% from last weekend. It’s now made $205.3 million domestically. The first film, which was released simultaneously in theaters and on streaming, capped out at around $435 million globally, while “Part Two” is already at almost $500 million worldwide.

“Arthur the King” did the best of the newcomers, landing in third place with $7.5 million from 3,003 locations. The studio went into the weekend expecting something in the $8 million to $10 million range. Its low production cost and international presales should yield profits.

Directed by Simon Cellan Jones and written by Michael Brandt, the movie is based on the true story of an adventure racer who befriends a stray dog on a perilous 435-mile trek in the Dominican Republic. Simu Liu plays one of Wahlberg’s teammates. With an A CinemaScore, the studio is hoping positive word of mouth will boost sales in the coming weeks.

“Love Lies Bleeding” opened in 1,362 locations to $2.5 million. Written and directed by Rose Glass (“Saint Maud”), it’s a pulpy ’80s-set Western thriller about an isolated gym manager (Stewart) and a bodybuilder (Katy O’Brian) passing through town.

“The American Society of Magical Negroes” opened in 1,147 theaters and made an estimated $1.3 million. According to exit data, 52% of the opening weekend audience was Black. The movie, written and directed by Kobi Libii, is a satire about a secret society of Black people dedicated to making white lives easier. Justice Smith and David Alan Grier star.

In the first weekend following the Oscars, “Poor Things” added $2.3 million globally, bumping its total to $112.6 million.

Next weekend, “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” will arrive in theaters, armed with proton packs and brand name recognition.

“When there’s not a newcomer dominating the marketplace, it makes for a rather slow weekend,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “Now we’re just waiting for ‘Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire’ and ‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.’ That combo should take us out of the month of March on a high note.”

He added: “We’re going to have to have a lot of patience until we get to May and ‘The Fall Guy’ and the summer movie season. But there’s some great movies on the way.”

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A Small Serbian Town Is Home to Robin Hood in a New TV Series 

Showrunner John Glenn poses with director Jonathan English prior to an interview. (AP) 
Showrunner John Glenn poses with director Jonathan English prior to an interview. (AP) 
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A Small Serbian Town Is Home to Robin Hood in a New TV Series 

Showrunner John Glenn poses with director Jonathan English prior to an interview. (AP) 
Showrunner John Glenn poses with director Jonathan English prior to an interview. (AP) 

Villages and castles from 12th-century England came to life in a small town in Serbia for the filming of a new series about Robin Hood that has just wrapped in the landlocked country in southeast Europe.

The 10-episode take on England’s beloved medieval outlaw who, in lore, stole from the rich to give to the poor, comes from Lionsgate Television, and is expected to premiere on MGM+ in the US and parts of Europe later this year.

The Associated Press recently visited the set in Simanovci, the village which is home to a film studio and not far from the capital of Belgrade. Thorough research for the series was visible in the scenography and costumes, taking the cast — and the studio — back in time to the stony interiors of a candlelit castle, complete with stained-glass lancet windows.

The “sweeping, romantic adventure” offers a historically grounded look into how Robin Hood grew up to become an outlaw-turned-hero in the wake of the Norman conquest of England, the producers say.

“We actually show the beginning of Robin Hood,” producer, director and writer Jonathan English, who was a main driving force behind the project, said in an interview. “We start the story with him as a child.”

Self-described as a “huge fan of all things medieval,” English marveled at Robin Hood’s persistent global appeal.

“You can stop a pensioner on the streets of Belgrade and he knows who Robin Hood is. You can stop a teenager on the streets of Beijing, and they know who Robin Hood is,” he said.

Asked whether the story is still relevant, following countless cinematic and small-screen adaptations, English insisted that “it is incredibly relevant, probably more today than ... 50 years ago or 100 years ago, even.”

“It’s a story about class and the absolute tyranny of class, people who believe that they can have everything and control everything and can own everything and everybody else could just, you know, get lost,” he said. “There’s always been wealthy people, but now you have uber-rich people. And the divide between the uber-rich and the rest of the world is extraordinary now.”

The show’s plot centers strongly on the romance between Robin and Marian. He is a Saxon forester’s son and Marian is the daughter of a Norman lord but they overcome the divide to jointly fight for freedom and against injustice.

Australian actor Jack Patten plays Robin, joined by Lauren McQueen as Marian. The two appear alongside Sean Bean as the notorious Sheriff of Nottingham, and Connie Nielsen, who plays Eleanor of Aquitaine, the queen of England and wife of Henry II.

Patten admitted he was nervous ahead of his “third gig since getting out of drama school.” His Robin is “any young 24-year-old ... trying to find his place in the world” and who “gets dealt some pretty tricky cards.”

McQueen said Marian’s character will be “quite empowering” for young women watching the series.

Filmed in multiple locations in Serbia and with hundreds of staff and crew, the series is “huge” even by Hollywood standards, showrunner and writer John Glenn said. He described the new show as “much more Peaky Blinders in tone” than previous incarnations, referring to the hit UK TV series about gangsters in 1920s Birmingham.

Both Glenn and English said they chose Serbia because of high-standard facilities and crews but also because of the natural scenery that could mimic a medieval English landscape.

“It’s hard to find ancient forests now in England,” English said. “There’s not a lot of undeveloped wilderness.”