Weekend Box Office (April 22 - 24, 2016)

by Sujit Chawla

THIS WEEKEND Disney's The Jungle Book held on strong in its second weekend while The Huntsman: Winter's War was met with middling results.

The Jungle Book remained in the top spot this weekend with an estimated $60.1M, a drop of 41% from last weekend's $100M+ opening, bringing its total up to $191.5M. This will be the second of a possible six $300M+ plus grossers for the Mouse House this year after Zootopia accomplished that result last weekend. And looking ahead in 2016 there's still Captain America: Civil War, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Finding Dory and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story to look forward to, all of which should find massive audiences. Eventually, Disney will run out of theme park rides and old classics to remake, but until then this should be a banner year for them.

Second place belonged to the debuting The Huntsman: Winter's War which captured $20.1M, according to estimates, from 3,791 theaters for a per screen average of $5,297. Critic reviews were very soft as it stands at only 17% positive at Rotten Tomatoes, but the CinemaScore was a B+, which is stronger than the B score the first film received back in the summer of 2012. That film opened to $56M on its way to a final total of $155M. The Huntsman will struggle to even reach the opening of the original. It's unlikely they'll make a third film unless they bring back Kristen Stewart for a trilogy ender since she clearly is the reason the first film was so successful. I'll let you decide how sarcastic that last sentence may or may not have been.

Falling 46.5% in its second weekend was Ice Cube's Barbershop: The Next Cut, cutting up an estimated $10.8M, bringing its total to $36M. The first two films in the series had similar opening weekend but smaller second weekend drops. Look for The Next Cut to finish in the $55M range which would be the lowest in the series.

Fourth place belonged to Disney's Zootopia which fell only 19% in its eighth weekend to an estimated $6.6M, bringing its total up to a huge $316M. Is it possible this unheralded animated film could end up outgrossing the two biggest superheroes of all-time? Because in its fifth weekend, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice slipped 39% to an estimated $5.5M, bringing its total up to $319.5M. It'll be interesting to see if Zootopia can catch and pass the leaders of the Justice League. And sandwiched in between the two behemoths was Universal's The Boss which took in an estimated $6M this weekend, bringing its cume up to $49.5M.

In seventh place was Criminal, which made $3.1M this weekend, according to estimates, bringing its total up to $10.9M with not much left in the tank. In eighth place was My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 which took in another $2.1M this weekend, according to estimates, bringing its cume up to a solid $55.3M. A far cry from the original's $241M total, but not horrible.

If you had to decide which movie would make more money based on the following descriptions, which would you choose: A) A bilingual Mexican/American buddy cop film with no recognizable American stars or B) A movie starring Tom Hanks? If you guessed A, good job! Despite opening on 69 fewer screens Compadres opened to $1.35M this weekend, according to estimates, from 368 playdates, for a per screen average of $3,668. Meanwhile, debuting outside the top 10 was Tom Hanks in the oddly named A Hologram for the King which opened to an estimated $1.2M from 401 theaters, for a per screen average of $3,010. And in the middle of those two debuts was the Bleecker Street thriller Eye in the Sky which picked up another $1.2M this weekend, according to estimates, bringing its total up to $15M. Bleecker Street was less successful with Elvis & Nixon which opened on 381 screens but only managed to earn an estimated $456,793 for a poor average of only $1,199.

The top ten films grossed an estimated $117.7M which was up 46.8% from last year when Furious 7 stayed at number one for a fourth time with $17.8M; and up 20.8% from 2014 when The Other Woman opened in the top spot with $24.7M. Compared to projections, The Huntsman: Winter's War was dead on target with Gitesh's $20M prediction.

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Be sure to check back on Monday for final figures and again on Thursday for a complete summary, including projections, for next weekend when Keanu, Mother's Day and Ratchet & Clank all open.

THIS WEEKEND's TOP 10

Last Updated: April 24, 2016 at 3:25PM ET

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