LOS ANGELES — “Kung Fu Panda 3” kicked its way to the top of the North American box office with a respectable $41 million, according to Rentrak estimates Sunday.

The DreamWorks Animation film cost a reported $145 million to make and earned a strong “A” CinemaScore from audiences — 70 percent of whom were families.

“It’s a bold move to take a franchise which has had great success in that summer corridor and move it into late January, which is generally considered a very slow time,” Rentrak’s senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian said. “It also filled a huge void in the marketplace.”