'The Jungle Book' Scores Huge $103.6 Million U.S. Debut at the Box Office
By Pamela McClintock, The Hollywood Reporter
Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book opened to a massive $103.6 million at the North American box office in another win for Disney’s live-action studio as it spins classic titles into modern-day tentpoles.
Overseas, the family friendly movie is also doing enormous business, grossing $136.1 million over the weekend for a foreign total of $187.4 million and early global tally of $291 million (it began rolling out in some territories a week ago).
In North America, Jungle Book scored the No. 2 opening of all time for the month of April behind last year’s Furious 7 ($146.2 million), and besting the likes of Captain America: The Winter Solider ($95 million), Fast Five ($86.2 million) and Fast and Furious ($71 million).
Jungle Book, a live-action/CGI reimagining of Rudyard Kipling’s eponymous book about an orphaned human boy whose guardians are animals, was buoyed by rave reviews and an A CinemaScore. The movie introduces Neel Sethi as Mowgli, and features the voices of Bill Murray, Idris Elba, Ben Kingsley, Lupita Nyong'o and Scarlett Johansson, as well as the late Garry Shandling.
The film’s better-than-expected performance comes only days after Warner Bros. announced it is pushing its rival Jungle Book movie, directed by Andy Serkis, from 2017 to 2018.
Heading into the weekend, tracking suggested Favreau’s film, costing $175 million to produce, would open in line with fellow Disney live-action titles Cinderella ($67.9 million) and Maleficent ($69.4 million). Jungle Book debuted in 4,208 theaters in North America; more than 3,000 of those offered the film in a variety of premium formats, including 4D, 3D and Imax.
The two other movies opening nationwide were Ice Cube’s Barbershop: The Next Cut and the older-skewing action thriller Criminal, starring Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman, Tommy Lee Jones, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot.
The well-reviewed Barbershop 3 placed No. 2 with $20.2 million from 2,661 theaters after earning an A- CinemaScore. The movie, from New Line and MGM, had hoped to match the $24.1 million debut of Barbershop 2: Back in Business 12 years ago, but still did solid business.
Related: 'Barbershop: The Next Cut’ Cast Reflects on Comedy With a Purpose
From Lionsgate and Millennium Films, Ariel Vromen’s Criminal fell flat, coming in No. 6 with $5.9 million from 2,683 theaters despite a strong cast. In the film, the memories of a dead CIA operative are implanted into a death-row inmate (Costner) in hopes of stopping a dangerous threat. B-
Elsewhere, Melissa McCarthy’s R-rated comedy The Boss tumbled 57 percent in its second weekend to $10.2 million from 3,495 locations for a domestic total of $40.4 million (it’s the biggest drop for one of her comedies). The Boss came in No. 3, followed by Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice with $9 million from 3,505 theaters in its fourth weekend for a domestic cume of $311.3 million.
Disney Animation Studios’ Zootopia wasn’t far behind in its seventh weekend. The animated hit grossed an estimated $8.2 million from 3,209 theaters to jump the $300 million mark domestically and finish Sunday with a domestic cume of $307 million.
In its second weekend, STX Entertainment’s Hardcore Henry plunged 71 percent to $1.5 million from 3,015 theaters for a sobering total to date of $8.2 million.
Hardcore Henry tied with The Met: Live in HD’s live-transmission of Roberto Devereux for No. 11 behind Bleecker Street’s Eye in the Sky, which rounded out the top 10 with $1.7 million from 891 theaters in its sixth weekend for a strong domestic total of $13.1 million.
