Walt Disney Pictures‘ The Jungle Book, directed by Iron Man‘s Jon Favreau, continued its run at the box office, dropping just 41% from its opening weekend to take in another $60.8 million in North America over the weekend. It has grossed $191.5 million domestically in just ten days, and it continues to do just as well overseas where it has earned $156.8 million to bring its global total to $528.5 million. $39 million of that total comes from IMAX screens.
The only new movie opening in wide release this weekend was Universal Pictures’ sequel (or prequel, depending on whom you ask) The Huntsman: Winter’s War, once again starring Charlize Theron and Chris Hemsworth and adding Emily Blunt and Jessica Chastain. It opened in 3,791 theaters on Friday and after grossing a mere $1 million in Thursday previews and $7.3 million on Friday, it earned an estimated $20.1 million for the weekend, roughly $5,340 per theater. That’s not great when you realize the film’s $115 million production budget, but Universal may be hoping to make back that money overseas. It opened in 37 new international territories this weekend, including China, Brazil and France, where it took in $32.1 million for the weekend with a global total of $100.3 million so far.
The Huntsman scored a B+ CinemaScore with moviegoers, which is certainly better than the reviews, which were at 17% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Third place belonged to New Line and MGM’s Barbershop: The Next Cut, starring Ice Cube, Cedric the Entertainer, Eve, Common and Nikki Minaj with $10.8 million, down 47% from last weekend with $36 million grossed so far.
With the only family competition being another Disney movie, Walt Disney Animation’s Zootopia moved up a notch with a minimal 19% drop to add another $6.6 million to its domestic gross of $316.4 million. The animated hit also added $10.8 million internationally for an overseas total of $590.7 million. It has grossed $907.1 million worldwide since opening in March.
Melissa McCarthy’s comedy The Boss (Universal Pictures) dropped to fifth place with $6.1 million and a $49.5 million total gross.
Warner Bros. Pictures’ Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice had its smallest week-to-week drop. The film was down just 38% as it took sixth place with $5.5 million and has now earned $319.5 million domestically. Apparently, it is hoping to go toe-to-toe with Zootopia for the second-highest year’s domestic gross behind Deadpool, at least for now. Internationally, Zack Snyder’s superhero slugfest took in another $8.3 million this weekend in 66 markets (most of that from Brazil) bringing its international total to $532.1 million and worldwide total to $851.6 million so far. (It’s good to note that Marvel Studios’ Captain America: Civil War will open in many countries overseas next week, so Batman v Superman may not get to the $1 billion mark worldwide.)
The Kevin Costner action-thriller Criminal (Lionsgate) also dropped a notch to seventh with $3.1 million, down 46% from opening weekend with $10.9 million so far, while Universal Pictures’ My Big Fat Greek Wedding took eighth place with $2.1 million and $55.4 million to date.
Instead of the usual platform and limited releases we normally see, three studios decided to open their movies semi-wide into 350 to 400 theaters to try to capitalize on the lack of stronger new movies. Of the three movies that took this approach, Pantelion Films’ Spanish action flick Compadres fared the best by grossing $1.4 million in 368 theaters, or $3,668 per theater.
The Tom Hanks vehicle A Hologram for the King (Roadside Attractions), reuniting him with Cloud Atlas co-director Tom Tykwer, didn’t do quite as well, ending up with $1.2 million in 401 theaters and was just edged out of the top 10 (according to estimates) by holdover Eye in the Sky.
Bleecker Street’s historic comedy Elvis & Nixon, starring Michael Shannon and Kevin Spacey, didn’t fare as well, opening in a similar 381 theaters but only grossing $457,000 (about $1,200 per theater) to open in 20th place.
Meanwhile, Don Cheadle’s Miles Davis film Miles Ahead (Sony Pictures Classics) expanded into 527 theaters on Friday where it ended up with $687,000 ,or $1,303 per theater, another not-so-great expansion by Sony Classics of one of their platform releases.
