The Jungle Book Roars Into Theaters
Disney Studios’ The Jungle Book exceeded high expectations registering the second largest opening weekend performance (April 15-17) ever for the month of April with $103.26 million. The 3D live-action computer animated hybrid directed by Jon Favreau registered the second largest April opening weekend behind only the $147.19 million start of last year’s Furious 7.
Without adjusting for inflation, The Jungle Book claimed the 32nd largest opening weekend of all-time. In comparison to previous live-action blockbusters from Disney, The Jungle Book opened 31 percent ahead of the $79.11 million start of 2013’s Oz: The Great and Powerful and 49 percent ahead of the $69.43 million debut of 2014’s Maleficent. A strong marketing campaign, terrific critical reviews and four-quadrant appeal all contributed to the movie’s break-out performance last weekend. Given strong word of mouth and appeal with family audiences, it appears very likely that The Jungle Book will have stronger holding power than Disney’s previous live-action adaptations of its animated classics.
Barbershop: The Next Cut finished in second with a solid $20.24 million. The Ice Cube led comedy sequel from Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line and MGM opened in line with expectations. Without taking into account inflation, it debuted 17 percent below the $24.24 million launch of 2004’s Barbershop 2: Back in Business. Comedy sequels that arrive many years after their predecessors typically don’t perform as well as their predecessors, especially when it comes to admissions. The film will soon face direct competition from fellow Warner Bros. comedy Keanu, which arrives in theatres on April 29.
After opening in first place the previous weekend, Universal Pictures’ The Boss fell two spots to third with $9.96 million. The Melissa McCarthy led R-rated comedy was down a sharp 58 percent, as mixed word of mouth and the additions of The Jungle Book and Barbershop: The Next Cut in theaters clearly took a toll. The Boss has grossed $40.14 million in 10 days. While The Boss doesn’t look like it will duplicate the holding power of McCarthy’s previous hits, the film is still having a solid performance with expectations and its modest price tag in mind.
Blockbusters Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Zootopia claimed fourth and fifth place with respective earnings of $9.03 million and $8.14 million. Warner Bros.’ Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice continued to fall with a 61 percent slide last weekend, while Disney’s Zootopia displayed healthy power by declining 43 percent in the face of The Jungle Book. Respective total grosses stand at $311.33 million for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in 24 days and at $307.38 million for Zootopia in 45 days. Given the far stronger holding power of Zootopia, it looks to emerge as the higher grossing of the two films domestically in the end.
Meanwhile, Lionsgate’s Criminal debuted in sixth place last weekend with $5.77 million. The action-thriller starring Kevin Costner debuted below modest expectations and represents another underwhelming performer for Lionsgate in 2016. Costner had seen a string of five straight opening weekend performances that all fell within the range of $6 million to $16 million, but Criminal came in just under that range and instead performed more in line with the $5.40 million start of last year’s Self/Less. Poor reviews didn’t help matters, although it appears to be going over a bit better with moviegoers than it has with critics. However, mixed word of mouth won’t be enough to help the film going forward, especially after its slow start.
This Week | Last Week | Movie | Weekend Gross | Cumulative Gross | Weeks |
1 | N/A | The Jungle Book | $103.26M | $103.26M | 1 |
2 | N/A | Barbershop: The Next Cut | $20.24M | $20.24M | 1 |
3 | 1 | The Boss | $9.96M | $40.14M | 2 |
4 | 2 | Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice | $9.03M | $311.33M | 4 |
5 | 3 | Zootopia | $8.14M | $307.39M | 7 |
6 | N/A | Criminal | $5.77M | $5.77M | 1 |
7 | 4 | My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 | $3.26M | $52.09M | 4 |
8 | 6 | Miracles from Heaven | $1.94M | $56.97M | 5 |
9 | 7 | God’s Not Dead 2 | $1.72M | $16.96M | 3 |
10 | 10 | Eye in the Sky | $1.55M | $13.11M | 6 |
Editor-in-Chief Mark Heckathorn is a journalist, movie buff and foodie. He oversees DC on Heels editorial operations as well as strategic planning and staff development. Reach him with story ideas or suggestions at dcoheditor (at) gmail (dot) com.