The Jungle Book triumphed over a three lightweights, racking up $42.4 million to lead for the third consecutive weekend. Disney’s live action adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s Mowgli stories has made $252.1 million since opening last month. It should have no trouble becoming the fourth film this year to cross $300 million domestically, joining “Deadpool,” “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” and “Zootopia.”
Keanu, an action-comedy sendup from Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key, held third place with $9.3 million across 2,658 screens. The weak result is alleviated somewhat by the fact that the Warner Bros./ New Line release cost a meagre $15 million to produce.
Open Road’s Mother’s Day, an ensemble romantic comedy with Julia Roberts, Jennifer Anniston, and Jason Sudekis, collapsed at the multiplexes, grossing $8.3 million in 3,035 locations to finish in fourth. That could spell the end for director Gary Marshall’s lucrative “throw a bunch of stars at a holiday” franchise that also encompassed “Valentine’s Day” and “New Year’s Eve.” “Arbor Day” is unlikely to score a greenlight now.
Focus Features’ “Ratchet and Clank” struggled to leave an impression. The adaptation of the video game series about a fugitive robot and a cat-like alien, only managed to pull in $4.8 million from 2,891 locations, marking it as D.O.A.
Analysts and box office watchers weren’t expecting a lot, but the results were even worse than expected. Going into the weekend, tracking services had both “Mother’s Day” and “Keanu” debuting to north of $10 million.
In its second weekend, Universal’s “The Huntsman: Winter’s War” dropped 52% to $9.4 million for a second place finish. With $33.9 millin, this $115 million production goes to write-down territory.
“Barbarshop: The Next Cut” rounded out the top five, earning $6.1 million and bringing the Warner and MGM comedy sequel’s domestic total to $44.7 million.
The whole weekend is just a clearing for “Captain America: Civil War,” which hits theaters May 6. The superhero sequel could score $200 million in openings weekend.
