Right now, Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 4‘s second weekend and Legendary/Warner Bros’ Dune: Part Two‘s third weekend are in a close call for No. 1 with around $27 million-$30 million apiece. Many are expecting Kung Fu Panda 4 to knock out the sandworm come tomorrow: The Friday for the animated pic is $8.1M at 4,067 venues, while the sci-fi epic is $7.6M at 3,847 theaters. KFP4 is off 48% from last week, while Dune 2 is -35%.


Dune: Part Two will become the first movie of 2024 to crack the two-century mark with $206.2M on the high end. KFP4’s 10-day on the high end is $107.7M, the second movie after Dune 2 to cross $100M this year.


Lionsgate’s Arthur the King is looking at $2.8M today including Thursday previews of $825,000, which will come in around $7.6M at 3,003 for the frame. Audience scores are still high on RT at 97%.


The Santa Monica-based studio will also claim fourth with Blumhouse’s Imaginary, with a second weekend of $4.4M at 3,118 theaters, -55%, after a Friday of $1.3M. The 10-day cume by Sunday will be $17.7M.


Fifth goes to Angel Studios Cabrini with a second Friday of $750K, second weekend of $2.65M, -62%, with a 10-day total of $12.8M.


Arthouse not so hot, I’m told, with A24’s Love Lies Bleeding at 1,362 venues with a second weekend of $2.3M in a major coastal city play, while Focus Features’ The American Society of Magical Negroes seeing $500K at 1,147 theaters today for a three-day total of $1.25M. Moviegoers aren’t wowed by the latter at 46% on RT. No audience score yet on the Rose Glass movie.


Paramount’s Bob Marley: One Love at 2,272 locations is looking at a fifth Friday of $600K, a three-day of $2.28M, -44%, for a running total by EOD Sunday of $93.3M.


PREVIOUSLY, Friday AM: In a frame that will see Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 4 rally with a second-weekend take of around $30 million (down 48%), three wide entries hit cinemas. The biggest is Lionsgate’s Mark Wahlberg canine sports movie Arthur the King, which is eyeing $8 million-$10 million at 3,003 locations. The movie directed by Simon Cellan Jones made $825,000 in previews last night, which bests the $550K in previews made by Wahlberg’s 2018 movie Instant Family, which opened in a very pre-pandemic, pre-Thanksgiving period to $14.5M.