Movies
Box Office Recap: ‘Jungle Book’ Beats Newcomer ‘Huntsman’
Disney’s The Jungle Book remains on top at the box office, earning an additional $60.8 million from 4,028 theaters. After only 10 days, the king of the jungle accumulated $191.5 million domestically and $528.5 million worldwide.
Directed by Jon Favreau, the film has received rave reviews from moviegoers and critics, alike. It is already the fourth highest-earning movie of the year and Disney’s second biggest hit after Zootopia, which placed in fourth place with $6.6 million and a $316.4 million domestic total ($591 million international total). The animated film, Zootopia, is now the third-biggest Disney release of all time – after Frozen and The Lion King.
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According to Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for comScore, “The Mouse House is killing it right now,” especially after the recent successes of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Captain America- Civil War. “These movies are spaced out perfectly with great marketing and absolute built-in appeal.” Jungle, in particular, “has proven to be a much more formidable movie than we expected. We knew it’d be a big hit, but no one could’ve known it’d be this huge.”
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Universal’s weekend newcomer The Huntsman: Winter’s War failed to defeat Mowgli and his friends, debuting with $20.1 million from 3,792 theaters for a second place finish.
“We had a tremendous group of filmmakers and actors who made a beautiful action-packed film based on a fairy-tale universe. Frankly, we would have loved to see more people buy tickets to see it, but there’s no denying the quality of the film and the quality of the performances,” said Universal domestic distribution chief Nick Carpou.
Although Kristen Stewart didn’t return for the follow up film, Charlize Theron and Chris Hemsworth did return to reprise the roles, with additions of Emily Blunt and Jessica Chastain to the cast. Winter’s War is set before the events of Snow White and the Huntsman, centering on Hemsworth’s Huntsman and fellow warrior Sara (Chastain), who team up with Ravenna’s (Theron) sister Freya (Blunt) against the wicked witch.
Moviegoers, who were 61 percent female, gave the film a B-plus CinemaScore, while critics gave it a 17 percent “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes.
In third place at the box office is Barbershop: The Next Cut with $10.8 million this weekend, dipping only 46 percent. Thus far, the third installment in the Barbershop series has earned $36 million domestically. Rounding out the top five is Melissa McCarthy’s The Boss with $6.1 million over the weekend and $49.5 million domestically.
Top 10 Films at Weekend Box Office: April 22-24
- The Jungle Book — $60.8 million
- The Huntsman: Winter’s War — $20.1 million
- Barbershop: The Next Cut — $10.8 million
- Zootopia — $6.6 million
- The Boss — $6.1 million
- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice — $5.5 million
- Criminal — $3.1 million
- My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 — $2.1 million
- Compadres — $1.4 million
- A Hologram For The King — $1.2 million