'Jungle Book' roars with $61 million in a dominant second weekend
Disney is just going to own the box office for the first half of 2016, okay?
First, the studio cruised into the year riding a wave of box office success thanks to Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Then, after Star Wars finally quieted down -- and after Fox's Deadpool win gave Marvel a boatload of free publicity -- Zootopia came along to floor everyone.
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Now we have The Jungle Book. Director Jon Favreau's live action adaptation of the classic animated film took in an estimated $60.8 million in its second weekend, bringing the 10-day box office total up to $191.5 million.
That's a huge pile of money for a movie that isn't quite two weeks old, and it's even more impressive when you consider how it splits between weekends. Ticket sales dropped just 41% from the first weekend to the second, suggesting a rising interest in the box office hit.
The forecast for Disney's continued box office dominance looks great right now. The Jungle Book clearly isn't going anywhere, and we're two weeks away from the next big chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe -- Captain America: Civil War on May 6.
With little to challenge Jungle this coming Friday, we could see Disney maintain a grip on winning box office weekends through the end of May. April's toughest competition arrived this weekend -- The Huntsman: Winter's War -- but it wasn't enough.
Universal's follow-up to 2012's Snow White and the Huntsman leaves behind the earlier film's titular princess to focus on Chris Hemsworth's character. A leading role for the Thor actor wasn't enough to propel a weekend win for Huntsman, which took in an estimated $20.1 million, enough for second place.
The box office trails off significantly after that, with last weekend's Barbershop: The Next Cut stepping in at #3, with an estimated $10.8 million (down from a $20.2 million opening).
Disney and Universal round out the rest of the top five, with Zootopia hanging on at #4 with an estimated $6.6 and The Boss at #5, with an estimated $6.1 million. These two could easily switch places by the time final numbers come in on Monday.
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Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
