Disney once again earned itself another major blockbuster as The Jungle Book blew past all expectations, pulling in a massive $103.6 million, for a huge $25,712 per-venue average from 4,028 locations. For the month of April, Jungle only trails last year's Furious 7 ($147 million) in terms of opening weekends. As for Disney's live-action remakes, it came within shouting distance of Alice in Wonderland ($116 million), while handily outpacing Maleficent ($69 million) and Cinderella ($67 million). What gave this movie an extra boost was thanks to surprise critical acclaim (95% on Rotten Tomatoes). But, Disney really tried to push the visual boundaries on this film for an experience to be seen in 3D and IMAX, and it paid off immensely (43% of business was in the third dimension), even though the release date seemed somewhat odd. Audiences loved the film, giving it an "A". I saw the movie yesterday, and will have a review up in the next few days. As for holding power in the U.S., there won't be any major PG-rated competition for a month (Captain America: Civil War will steal older kids though on May 6).Jungle also had a massive start overseas, pulling in $50 million in China and $136 million overall from overseas markets. After opening to $29 million last weekend from a handful of territories (including India), The Jungle Book has already amassed $291 million worldwide in just two weeks. With strong word-of-mouth and Japan still to open, there is a chance Disney will be looking at back-to-back $1 billion+ grossers, and its not even summer yet! The budget was $175 million.
Despite the strong opening of The Jungle Book, there were other films opening this weekend, and at least one wasn't affected by it. Comedy Barbershop: The Next Cut got off to a strong start of its own this weekend, with $20.2 million in second place. The long-awaited threequel averaged $7,595 per-venue and wound in line with expectations (though some pushed for $30 million). This installment surprisingly earned fantastic reviews (91% on Rotten Tomatoes), and an "A-" CinemaScore, which helped boost it higher. Even though ticket prices have changed since the days of its predecessors, The Next Cut wound up in the same vicinity as the first movie ($20.2 million) and the second ($24 million). With strong word-of-mouth, there's a chance this could hold well in the coming weeks. Though it could also prove to be somewhat front-loaded with its fanbase. Distributor Warner Bros. produced the film for a small $20 million.
Last week's topper, The Boss, had negative word-of-mouth catch up with it, as Melissa McCarthy's latest had a dramatic fall from grace. Down 57% from last weekend, the R-rated comedy earned another $10.2 million, for an OK $40.4 million gross in 10 days. At its current rate, Boss won't be able to catch any of McCarthy's previous hits, such as Tammy ($80 million) or Spy ($110 million). At least she has the Ghostbusters remake coming up this summer.
Just about all holdovers took a tumble from the added new competition, as IMAX screens were taken away from Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. The superhero mash-up was down another 61% in its fourth weekend to $9.1 million, for an OK $311.3 million gross in 24 days. There's a chance this won't make twice its opening weekend ($335 million), which would make for one of the most front-loaded performances ever for a movie. Overseas, the DCCU starter continues to fall fast, with $825 million worldwide so far with not much more to go. $900 million might now be a stretch.
Fellow Disney movie Zootopia lost some attention to The Jungle Book, but it held the best out of all the holdovers thanks to drive-in double features. The animated blockbuster was off 43% to $8.2 million, in the process passing the $300 million milestone stateside (becoming only the 10th animated movie in history to do so, its at $307.5 million in 49 days). Worldwide, it's closing in on $900 million with Japan (its last foreign market) opening next weekend.
Meanwhile, the final new release wasn't able to bring in much of an audience. Kevin Costner's Criminal only managed $5.9 million ($2,180 per-venue average) in sixth place. This one just never seemed to draw much appeal for many (even with the new Wonder Woman [Gal Gadot] in the film). With negative reviews (25% on Rotten Tomatoes) and a "C+" CinemaScore, this will likely fade fast. Distributor Lionsgate likely knew this wasn't going to do well and dumped it on this weekend (they produced it for $32 million).My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 was down 50% in the face of another PG-13 comedy (Barbershop) and earned $3.3 million, for a still very solid $52.1 million pick-up in 24 days. Miracles from Heaven collapsed, falling 60% to $1.9 million, for a still very good $56.9 million gross in one month of release with not much more to go. God's Not Dead 2 met a similar fate this weekend, down 60% to $1.7 million, for a somewhat disappointing $17 million pick-up in 17 days. The sequel will still be very profitable for Pure Flix, which only cost them $2 million to make.
Rounding out the Top 10 once again was Eye in the Sky, which was down 46% to $1.6 million, for a very decent $13.1 million gross since its limited start six weeks ago. One of Alan Rickman's final films will likely fall short of $20 million stateside.
And that's it. Next weekend brings another big-budget fantasy as prequel The Huntsman: Winter's War is tracking for a modest debut, with The Jungle Book almost guaranteed to remain on top. Stay tuned.
