Like Ricky Bobby says if you are not first you are last. Many sites this weekend are claiming triumph of KungFu Panda taking the top spot over You Don’t Mess with the Zohan. My response to that is “well duh”
Cinematical sheds a little light on the situation:
You Don’t Mess with the Zohan wasn’t able to claim the weekend’s top spot over Dreamworks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda, but a) no one was really expecting it to do that, and b) Zohan’s $40 million opening weekend is at least par for Sandler
Now the mantra of “Never Underestimate the Family Film” reigns supreme here. The broader audience in this case is not limited simply to age.
Adam Sandler is an acquired taste in the last half decade. He hasn’t surprised us in a long time and while I would like to see him stem out into inspired dramatic roles, but he does what he does well and it brings in the bucks. A $40m opening weekend is hardly considered a defeat. Also, as silly as Zohan looked, I won’t fall to Doug’s Squash fucking shortsightedness and underestimate a genre. I never would have placed it in the #1 spot, however I did expect it to beat back Sex and the City and Indiana Jones.
So the Panda did Mess with the Zohan, but at least it was a good fight.
