The next time we’ll see a Huntsman movie will be on home video when some hunk of blond beefcake gets the call to rise up from whatever CW show he’s on and to pretend he’s Chris Hemsworth as he battles substandard computer generated witchcraft. The jury has spoken and they have said no to the theatrical aspirations of this clever extension of the Snow White story. It’s a shame because they weren’t really bad movies. It’s to the great benefit of The Jungle Book, however.
Jon Favreau’s charming movie experienced the exact opposite kind of sophomore weekend than Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice had. It dropped a microscopic 41% in its second weekend, which is great news for a film that already had the potential for enduring time atop the charts. The film will blow past 200 million dollars by Tuesday. That’s the kind of first two weeks that every family-themed film aspires for. In essence, The Jungle Book is impervious to any opponents because even a film geared towards the exact same audience will most likely fail in comparison. Until Captain America and Iron Man show up in a couple of weeks it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that a film based on a really old story that has been remade way too many times and features no explosions will somehow be the movie everyone has to see. It gives us a little hope in humanity, which is nice.
The Jungle Book took in $60,803,000 in its second weekend and if it drops 41% next weekend it’ll still most likely rule the roost. The Huntsman: Winter’s War took in a paltry $20,080,000, which is almost a third of what Snow White and the Huntsman made in its debut weekend. The sad takeaway is that studios may get a little nervous about giving Chris Hemsworth big properties to anchor. In the Heart of the Sea, Vacation, Blackhat, and the amazing Rush were all box office duds and unless the dude is holding a very big hammer it appears the actor is going to have to refocus a little.
A few tidbits from the numbers:
- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is about to get passed forever on the domestic ticket sales chart by Zootopia. Anyone who would have taken that bet a year ago might have been a candidate for the mental ward.
- Hardcore Henry had less ticket sales than Deadpool this weekend and that is made even more sad by the fact that Deadpool will be on iTunes to own in less than a day. People chose to pay for a movie they could own for the same price rather than seeing Hardcore Henry.
- Gods of Egypt yanked another $75,000 from consumers this weekend. At that rate it’ll take only 139,999,587 more weekends to make its money back.
The Numbers Game
I’ve added a little fun to the box office report. A little guessing game. Let’s see how close we can get to guessing the correct box-office numbers for the movies opening next week.
Last Week:
The Huntsman: Winter’s War
My Guess: $29,000,000
Actual: $20,080,000
Result: The apathy is even stronger than I feared.
This week:
Mother’s Day
Garry Marshall has created a little cottage industry in milking holidays into star-studded romantic comedies. Though I personally find them neither comedic or romantic, they’ve done solid business and provided a safe mainstream product. This year Mother’s Day gets the call and Julia Roberts, Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson, and Jason Sudekis are on board to supply the pretty faces for the jokes and kisses. This is a smart concept from a business perspective. Holidays aren’t owned by anyone, so even though they are technically adaptations or franchise movies, it’s all public domain!
My guess: $16,000,000
Ratchet and Clank
This is a video game adaptation made for the right reasons, with the right people, and with the blessing of all the requisite parties. The question is: Does anyone care? We shall see. It has a great voice cast and is opening on a bunch of screens, so the tools are there. With that said, The Jungle Book may still be grabbing fistfuls of that family entertainment money that this movie needs.
My guess: $11,000,000
Keanu
Key and Peele have finally made a feature film and though there was some concern about the finished product due to early buzz, it’s becoming more and more apparent that Keanu is going to be a lot of fun at the movies. Vulgar, crazy, and a reminder that we are in a golden age of comedy.
My guess: $12,000,000
See you next week!
Source: Box Office Mojo