Walt Disney’s live-action adventure, The Jungle Book, earned a stellar $103.6 million in 4,208 theaters and $240 million worldwide at the box office this weekend.
The Jon Favreau-directed PG-rated film exceeded all expectations – standing as the second-highest April opening of all time, behind 2015’s Furious 7 with $147.2 million.
“This is a flat-out stunner. No one expected that The Jungle Book would make this much — the projections just continued to build throughout the weekend,” says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for comScore. “And this wasn’t just playing for kids and families. It played to audiences across the board like an action adventure.”
MOVIE REVIEW: Disney’s The Jungle Book Elevated To New Heights in Live Action Remake
Moviegoers, who were 51 percent under the age of 25, gave the film an A CinemaScore, while critics gave it an equally positive rating with a 95 percent “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes. The CGI jungle world, telling the Rudyard Kipling’s classic story of a boy raised by wolves, introduces Neel Sethi as Mowgli and features the voices of Bill Murray, Idris Elba, Ben Kingsley, Lupita Nyong’o, Scarlett Johansson and the late Garry Shandling.
Just days before Disney’s film debuted, Warner Bros. announced that its rival Jungle Book movie, directed by Andy Serkis, has been shifted to release in 2018, instead of 2017.
The weekend’s other new releases include Ice Cube’s Barbershop: The Next Cut and Ariel Vromen’s Criminal, in second and sixth place, respectively.
Barbershop 3 follows behind the box office champ with $20.2 million from 2,661 theaters and an A-minus CinemaScore. The 2002 original earned roughly the same, however, Barbershop 2: Back in Business still holds the biggest opening for the series with $24.2 million in 2004.
“Given the enormity of the No. 1 movie [Jungle Book], we did great and broke through to reach our audience,” said Jeff Goldstein, domestic distribution chief at Warner Bros., which released the film on behalf of New Line and MGM.
Debuting outside of the top five is Lionsgate and Millennium Films’ Criminal, earning $5.9 million from 2,683 theaters and a B-minus CinemaScore. The older-skewing action thriller stars Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman, Tommy Lee Jones, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot.
The film is about a death-row inmate (Costner), who is implanted with the memories of a dead CIA operative, in hopes of stopping a dangerous threat.
In third and fourth place at the box office are holdovers The Boss and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice with $10.2 million from 3,495 theaters and $9 million from 3,505 theaters, respectively. Thus far, Melissa McCarthy’s comedy has accumulated $40.4 million domestically, while the superhero movie has earned $311.3 million domestically.
Rounding out the top five is Disney’s Zootopia with $8.2 million domestically from 3,209 theaters and $19 million globally. Overall the film has accumulated a domestic cume of $307 million and a global cume of $882.3 million.
Top 10 Films at Weekend Box Office: April 15-17
- The Jungle Book — $103.6 million
- Barbershop: The Next Cut — $20.2 million
- The Boss — $10.2 million
- Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice — $9 million
- Zootopia — $8.2 million
- Criminal — $5.9 million
- My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 — $3.3 million
- Miracles From Heaven — $1.9 million
- God’s Not Dead 2 — $1.7 million
- Eye In The Sky — $1.6 million
