'Kung Fu Panda 4' wins best DreamWorks opening in over a decade

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Universal and DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda 4 outperformed expectations

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with a powerful #1 launch at the US box office.

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The opening confirms the strength of the DreamWorks franchise and sets up a

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potentially big race for KFP4, with no major family animation competition scheduled domestically until the end of May.

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Also keep in mind that the budget of the film was only $85 million.

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This is a significant reduction in production costs compared to previous entries in the KFP

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series, which had a budget of $130–150 million.

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This will be especially welcome news to DreamWorks management,

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which is on an aggressive cost-cutting path as they attempt to align their

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business model with that of Universal's other feature animation studio, Illumination.

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