which were all expected to gross around $10 million. In North America, Kung Fu Panda 3 topped the box office in its debut weekend with $41.3 million, making it the best opening weekend for an animated film in January and the third-highest weekend debut ever for the month. The film continued to top the North American box office during its second weekend, grossing $21.2 million. In China, expectations were high for the film, with Nancy Tartaglione of Deadline Hollywood anticipating a bigger opening weekend than in the U.S. and a higher total gross. Conservative estimates for Kung Fu Panda 3'''s opening in China ranged from $35 million to upwards of $50 million. Even before the film's official Chinese release, it was already projected to surpass Monkey King: Hero Is Back as the country's highest-grossing animated film, which had earned $153 million at the box office in 2015, since Kung Fu Panda 3 had the additional benefits of opening a week before the Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day, and debuting during the school holidays in the Lunar New Year "blackout" period banning the release of foreign films, and therefore did not face competition from major Hollywood productions. The film had a limited theatrical release in China on January 22, 2016, a week before its release in the United States. A three-hour special sneak preview was screened, earning $6.4 million from two different versions of the film topping the daily box office charts. Buoyed by good word-of-mouth, the film had a single-day opening of $16.3 million, the biggest of 2016 thus far, earning a total of $23.1 million including previews from its Saturday showings, giving Kung Fu Panda 3 one of China's highest-grossing openings. Critical response On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a approval rating of 86% based on 180 reviews and an average rating of 6.90/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Kung Fu Panda 3 boasts the requisite visual splendor, but like its rotund protagonist, this sequel's narrative is also surprisingly nimble, adding up to animated fun for the whole family." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 66 out of 100 based on 34 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. IGN gave the film a score of 8.5 out of 10, commenting that "Kung Fu Panda 3 offers a fun-filled, action-packed