A scene from the latest film of the Kung Fu Panda franchise, which will premiere globally on Jan 29.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Kung Fu Panda 3 earned 380 million yuan ($57.79 million) in three days since its premiere this past weekend and broke the record of box office sales for an animated feature in its opening weekend. It also became the first film to earn more than 100 million yuan each day in its first three days of opening in China's film history.

Moreover, the third sequel to the Kung Fu Panda franchise has made nine records, including highest box office earnings on the opening day for an animated feature, and the film also passed the 100 million yuan mark the fastest.

Kung Fu Panda 3 also proved the irresistible power of panda at the North American box office.

The 3D computer animated sequel from Fox and DreamWorks Animation opened at 3,955 locations in United States and Canada and was estimated to be on track to sell $41 million in tickets, according to box office tracker Rentrak on Sunday.

However, Kung Fu Panda 3 debuted 21 percent below the $52.1 million debut of last year's DreamWorks' animated film Home and 14 percent below the $47.7 million opening weekend take of 2011's Kung Fu Panda 2.

Kung Fu Panda 3 received a strong "A" rating from first-night moviegoers on CinemaScore and got a good 80 percent approval rating from critics on Totten Tomatoes.

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