Disney's The Jungle Book delivers the third $100+ million opener of 2016, two more than 2015 had at this point in the year and Captain America: Civil War is just around the corner. The weekend's two other new wide releases saw WB and MGM's Barbershop: The Next Cut finish second while Lionsgate's Criminal settled for a sixth place finish. Altogether, the weekend top twelve finished up 50.2% compared to last year and up 76.6% from last weekend.
With an estimated $103.5 million opening, The Jungle Book will be the talk of the town for the next couple weeks. It's an opening number that exceeds all expectations despite the pre-release buzz. Heading into the weekend the film had an impressive 95% rating at RottenTomatoes, a rating that was reflected in audience opinion as opening day moviegoers rewarded it with an "A" CinemaScore. The result is the second largest April opening weekend of all-time behind only last year's Furious 7. Estimates say 43% of the film's domestic opening came from 3D equipped theaters and 10% of the domestic weekend came from 376 IMAX screens.
Internationally the film expanded into a total of 49 international territories from which it brought in $136.1 million, bringing the family feature's global tally to a whopping $290.9 million. Of those territories the leader is China with an estimated $50.3 million weekend. International cumes for other territories include India with $20.1 million followed by Russia ($14.2m), UK ($13.7m), Australia ($7.9m), France ($7.7m), Mexico ($7.6m), Germany ($5.6m), Argentina ($4.8m), Malaysia ($4.0m), Spain ($3.9m), Brazil ($3.1m) and Italy ($3.1m). Next weekend sees openings in the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary and New Zealand while it won't open in Korea until June and Japan won't be getting it until August.
The Jungle Book's opening weekend is shy only of Alice in Wonderland's $116.1 million opening back in 2010 when compared to Disney's recent fantasy adaptations and should be well on its way to a $300+ million domestic run.
Coming in a distant second, Barbershop: The Next Cut brought in an estimated $20.2 million this weekend to go along with an "A-" CinemaScore. The film played 46% male vs 54% female with 66% of the audience coming in over the age of 25. The result is below what the studio was expecting and well below Mojo's forecast, which, in hindsight, may have been a bit too aggressive for a sequel arriving eleven years after the Beauty Shop spin-off and twelve years after Barbershop 2, the latter of which opened with $24.2 million.
That said, the film was only carrying a budget in the low $20 millions and that "A-" CinemaScore along with an impressive 92% rating at RottenTomatoes should help with the film's legs over the coming weeks.
Just outside the top five we find the week's final new wide release, Lionsgate's Criminal, which wasn't able to make much of an impact, falling short of the lowest of expectations with an estimated $5.85 million. Opening day audiences gave the film a "B-" CinemaScore, which means this one won't likely be hanging around the top ten for too long.
Elsewhere in the top ten, Melissa McCarthy's The Boss followed up its number one finish last weekend with $10.1 million, a 56.9% drop. McCarthy's films are typically immune to poor reviews and CinemaScore ratings, but it seems The Boss is an exception. The 19% rating at RottenTomatoes and "C-" CinemaScore resulted in the largest second weekend drop for a McCarthy-led feature as she'd never seen a film drop more than 46.3% (Spy) in its sophomore session.
Below The Boss in fourth position is Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice with an estimated $9 million as it dropped 61.4% in its fourth weekend in release. The film's domestic cume is now up to $311.3 million to go along with an international total of $516 million for a current global take of over $825 million.
Rounding out the top five, Disney's Zootopia has become only the tenth animated film to ever gross over $300 million at the domestic box office. With an estimated $8.2 million this weekend the animated hit's domestic cume now sits at $307.4 million with a worldwide cume now over $880 million, placing it atop the 2016 chart.
Outside the top ten it wasn't a particularly successful second weekend for Fox Searchlight's Demolition or STX's Hardcore Henry, which dropped 72.1% and 71% respectively.
In limited release A24's Green Room was the weekend's per theater champion, bringing in an estimated $91,000 from 3 theaters for a $30,333 PTA. The Weinstein's Sing Street brought in an estimated $68,979 from five theaters and China Lion's New York, New York brought in an estimated $43,000 from 16 theaters.
In other news, Deadpool crossed $360 million and My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 has passed $50 million.
Next weekend is currently looking like a bloodbath for Universal's The Huntsman: Winter's War, which is looking more and more like a victim of timing. The sequel to 2012's Snow White and the Huntsman boasts an impressive cast and will open in over 3,700 theaters, but will have to contend with The Jungle Book's second weekend and poor early reviews.
Also next weekend, Bleecker Street will be releasing Elvis & Nixon, though Mojo hasn't yet received an estimated theater count, and Lionsgate will bring Compadres to 350 theaters.
