This weekend will likely pace ahead of this same weekend last year.
The Jungle Book got off to a huger-than-expected start this weekend, pulling in a massive $32.4 million on Friday, the fourth-biggest Friday opening yet for the month of April, behind Furious 7 ($67.4 million), Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($36.9 million) and Fast Five ($34.4 million). It also outpaced Cinderella ($23.7 million), Maleficent ($24 million) and Oz: The Great and Powerful ($24.2 million) in terms of opening days, but fell short of Alice in Wonderland ($41 million). With a family-friendly PG rating, Jungle seems likely to have a fairly strong weekend multiplier. I'm going to predict $90 million even, with the film likely to hold even on Saturday before sliding on Sunday. This marks the third major blockbuster win in the last four movies for Disney, after Star Wars: The Force Awakens hit $2 billion and Zootopia is likely to cross $1 billion.
Barbershop: The Next Cut had a very solid start in second place, opening to $7 million from 2,700 locations. The long-awaited threequel earned strong reviews (91% on Rotten Tomatoes), and also earned a "A-" CinemaScore. Look for the Ice Cube movie to reach $20 million for the weekend, in line with expectations (though some had it coming close to $30 million based on buzz).
All holdovers fell hard from last weekend. The Boss tumbled 62% Friday-to-Friday to $3.1 million, in what will likely be a $10 million weekend. Batman v. Superman lost all IMAX screens to Jungle Book and fell another 61% in its fourth Friday to $2.4 million, in what will likely be a $9 million weekend. Fellow Disney movie Zootopia remained in the mix, down 39% from last Friday to $2.1 million, in what will likely be an $8.5 million seventh weekend in fifth place.
Kevin Costner's Criminal opened to a disappointing $2.06 million in sixth place on Friday, with negative reviews and a "C+" CinemaScore not benefiting it also. Look for a $6 million gross this weekend.
Weekend report coming tomorrow.
