Jungle Book stomps Huntsman

Jessica Chastain plays the warrior Sara in The Huntsman: Winter’s War. It came in second at last weekend’s box office and made a little over $19.4 million.
Jessica Chastain plays the warrior Sara in The Huntsman: Winter’s War. It came in second at last weekend’s box office and made a little over $19.4 million.

LOS ANGELES -- Disney's live-action remake The Jungle Book retained the top spot at the box office, icing out a host of holdovers.

The lesson here is leave the fairy tales to Disney.

That was one takeaway from the weekend box office, which saw the Snow White prequel The Huntsman: Winter's War melt under terrible reviews and snarky social media chatter. Winter's War, which also borrowed from Frozen, took in a dismal $19.4 million at North American cinemas, or 64 percent less than its series predecessor, Snow White and the Huntsman, collected in 2012.

That left Winter's War, which cost Universal and a Chinese financing partner at least $115 million to make, as a distant second to Disney's Jungle Book, which took in about $61.5 million in its second weekend, for a new domestic total of $192.2 million. The Jungle Book has taken in an additional $337 million overseas.

That's a decline of only 41 percent from the opening weekend's $103.3 million. After just 10 days in release, The Jungle Book is the fourth-biggest movie of the year, powered by strong reviews and a largely positive response from moviegoers indicated by an A grade, according to polling firm CinemaScore.

Winter's War marked yet another box-office misfire for Chris Hemsworth, who played the title role. The movie also starred Charlize Theron, Jessica Chastain and Emily Blunt. Universal on Sunday said it was proud to have provided a film into the marketplace featuring three strong female lead roles.

The new movie, which attracted women (as 61 percent of the audience) to the multiplexes, boasts star power but it lacks the pull of Kristen Stewart, who played Snow White in the first installment. Moviegoers gave the picture a B-plus CinemaScore while only 17 percent of Rotten Tomatoes critics rated it positively.

Aside from Jungle Book and Huntsman, moviegoers found interest in holdovers Barbershop: The Next Cut ($10.5 million for a cumulative of $35.7 million), Zootopia ($6.5 million for a cumulative of $316.4 million) and The Boss ($6.2 million for a cumulative of about $49.6 million).

On the limited-release front, Lionsgate introduced its multicultural action-comedy Compadres to about $1.4 million from 368 locations. Starring Omar Chaparro, Joey Morgan and Erick Elias, the film landed in the overall ninth spot.

Further crowding cineplexes today will be Warner Bros.' Keanu starring comedy duo Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key, Open Road's Garry Marshall-directed Mother's Day with Jennifer Aniston and Julia Roberts and Focus Features' animated flick Ratchet & Clank.

Also of note: Two independent films that have attracted critical raves, the thriller Green Room (A24) and the musical drama Sing Street (the Weinstein Co.), played in limited release before broader rollout next weekend. Green Room collected $215,000 from 30 theaters, according to comScore, which compiles box-office data; Sing Street had $132,901 from 25 locations.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by comScore:

  1. The Jungle Book, Disney, $61,538,821, 4,028 locations, $15,278 average, $192,213,247, two weeks.

  2. The Huntsman: Winter's War, Universal, $19,445,035, 3,791 locations, $5,129 average, $19,445,035, one week.

  3. Barbershop: The Next Cut, Warner Bros., $10,518,254, 2,676 locations, $3,931 average, $35,719,746, two weeks.

  4. Zootopia, Disney, $6,579,545, 2,798 locations, $2,352 average, $316,404,151, eight weeks.

  5. The Boss, Universal, $6,228,205, 3,375 locations, $1,845 average, $49,656,410, three weeks.

  6. Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, Warner Bros., $5,502,033, 3,066 locations, $1,795 average, $319,483,636, five weeks.

  7. Criminal, Lionsgate, $3,116,777, 2,683 locations, $1,162 average, $10,881,263, two weeks.

  8. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, Universal, $2,096,025, 1,749 locations, $1,198 average, $55,370,765, five weeks.

  9. Compadres, Lionsgate, $1,397,434, 368 locations, $3,797 average, $1,397,434, one week.

  10. Eye in the Sky, Bleecker Street, $1,204,335, 838 locations, $1,437 average, $14,956,486, seven weeks.

  11. A Hologram for the King, Roadside Attractions, $1,138,605, 401 locations, $2,839 average, $1,138,605, one week.

  12. God's Not Dead 2, Pure Flix, $1,119,889, 1,168 locations, $959 average, $18,958,215, four weeks.

  13. Miracles From Heaven, Sony, $1,073,517, 1,264 locations, $849 average, $58,759,303, six weeks.

  14. Deadpool, 20th Century Fox, $680,518, 594 locations, $1,146 average, $361,132,461, 11 weeks.

  15. Everybody Wants Some!!, Paramount, $652,690, 454 locations, $1,438 average, $2,345,937, four weeks.

  16. Miles Ahead, Sony Pictures Classics, $639,032, 527 locations, $1,213 average, $1,334,920, four weeks.

  17. Hello, My Name Is Doris, Roadside Attractions, $637,093, 496 locations, $1,284 average, $11,964,804, seven weeks.

  18. The Divergent Series: Allegiant -- Part 1, Lionsgate, $635,453, 852 locations, $746 average, $65,038,769, six weeks.

  19. 10 Cloverfield Lane, Paramount, $553,313, 595 locations, $930 average, $70,728,064, seven weeks.

  20. Elvis & Nixon, Bleecker Street, $466,447, 381 locations, $1,224 average, $466,447, one week.

MovieStyle on 04/29/2016

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