Though facing competition from a cute kitten and a star-studded ensemble comedy made for Moms, Disney easily swatted away all comers, with “The Jungle Book” topping the box office with another big weekend.
In its third week, Jon Favreau’s live action/CGI movie hauled in another $42.4 million, bringing the domestic total to $252 million, and the global haul to $684.7 million. Moreover, the audience drop off has been modest, with word of mouth clearly proving to be strong, and Disney once again knocking out a big hit movie. But they had another reason to pop open the champagne this weekend. Overseas, “Captain America: Civil War” opened with a massive $200 million in 37 markets, just below the $200.2 million “Avengers: Age Of Ultron” pulled in when it bowed internationally. Either way, if it follows the trajectory of that film, a final tally of around $1.4 billion is likely. One can only imagine that the team behind “Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice” is looking at those numbers with envy, as Zack Snyder‘s picture is now on the bottom end of the top ten, just one month after opening.
The rest of Hollywood didn’t have such a good weekend. Warner Bros. saw their wacky, R-rated Key and Peele comedy “Keanu” open below expectations to $9.3 million, falling into third place just behind “The Huntsman: Winter’s War.” It’s the first big screen outing for the duo, who earned a steady following with their Comedy Central show, but clearly their popularity on the small screen didn’t translate to instant big screen success. Still, the budget on the movie was a mere $15 million, so it’ll likely still turn some kind of profit in the end, particularly once home video revenues are tossed in.
Coming in just behind is “Mother’s Day,” which earned a paltry $8.3 million, which is a long, long way from the $56.2 million debut of “Valentine’s Day.” It seems audiences have finally tired of this contrived holiday franchise, and are listening to critics, who slammed this one pretty hard. Though perhaps the $13 million opening of “New Year’s Eve” was already an indication that the formula had run out of gas.
Proving once again that movies based on video games have a tough road to becoming a big screen hit, Gramercy‘s animated “Ratchet & Clank” could only muster $4.8 million — not exactly the result you’re looking for from a property that is a massive console best-seller.
At the arthouse, “The Family Fang” earned $15, 285 from one screen. The mathematics drama “The Man Who Knew Infinity” starring Dev Patel and Jeremy Irons earned $88,134 from six screens, for a $14,689 PSA. “Papa: Hemingway In Cuba” boldly went on over 300 screens, but earned $491,200 for a paltry per screen average of $1,511. Meanwhile, Juliette Binoche‘s “The Wait” opened on two screens, taking in $6,250 with a PSA of $3,125.
- “The Jungle Book” — $42.4 million ($252 mil.)
- “The Huntsman: Winter’s War” — $9.39 million ($33.9 mil.)
- “Keanu” — $9.35 million
- “Mother’s Day” — $8.3 million
- “Barbershop: The Next Cut” — $6.1 million ($44.7 mil.)
- “Zootopia” — $5 million ($323.5 mil.)
- “Ratchet & Clank” — $4.8 million
- “The Boss” — $4.2 million
- “Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice” — $3.8 million ($325.1 mil.)
- “Criminal” — $1.3 million ($13.4 mil.)