Weekend Box Office Report: ‘The Jungle Book’ Defeats ‘The Huntsman: Winter’s War’

After last week’s stellar opening, it was clear that The Jungle Book was going to hold on to the number one spot at the box office this weekend. However, it wasn’t clear that it would spell complete and total doom for the weekend’s other new release, The Huntsman: Winter’s War, which debuted with very disappointing numbers in second place.

To put the failure of The Huntsman into perspective, its predecessor, Snow White and the Huntsman, opened to $56 million back in 2012 before going on to gross $155 million at the domestic box office (and nearly $400 million worldwide). However, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who was demanding a follow-up, hence the $20 million opening for the sequel. That’s a rough start for a movie that is already leaving audiences and critics shrugging, and there’s a definite possibility that it won’t even gross as much as the first film made in its opening weekend four years ago. The only upside here is that the film was relatively inexpensive as far as major genre releases from big studios go (a reported $115 million), so it should definitely break even once the international numbers come in. Just don’t expect a Huntsman 3 any time soon.

The Jungle Book continued to kill it in first place, dropping only 41 percent from its $103 million opening weekend and grossing $60 million. That brings the film’s current total to $191 million, which all-but-guarantees it hitting $300 million sooner rather than later. With no direct competition for two weeks (when Captain America: Civil War arrives and wipes the floor with everyone), Jon Favreau’s crowdpleaser is most likely going to be king of the box office jungle until May. And like the also family-friendly Zootopia, it should develop long legs that will take it much further than your typical superhero movie.

Speaking of Zootopia, Disney’s latest animated film dropped a tiny 18 percent this week and grossed another $6 million, bringing its current total to $318 million. At this rate, it may even have the legs to defeat Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice at the domestic box office (it’s already locked down that victory on the international front). Meanwhile, Batman v Superman fell 38 percent and grossed $5 million for a $319 million total. That’s not a disastrous number, but it’s far short of what Warner Bros. was expecting from this superhero opus.

This week was also home to a few low-key winners. Barbershop: The Next Cut added $10 million to its haul, bringing its grand total to $36 million. It probably won’t reach the heights of the first two movies in the series, but it’ll still be a minor hit. The same applies to The Boss, which won’t top the past few Melissa McCarthy comedies but will end its run in the black. At this rate, $70 million feels about right, which is a strong number for a movie produced on a modest budget.