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‘The Jungle Book’ Goes Head-To-Head With ‘Captain America,’ Breaks Records Set By ‘Spider-Man,’ ‘Inside Out,’ ‘Dark Knight’

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 15:08 PST, May 10, 2016

The Jungle Book has been the most popular movie in the United States for three weekends in a row, according to the Economic Times. The Walt Disney blockbuster had an even stronger third weekend than most movie critics predicted it would.

During the most recent weekend, The Jungle Book earned $43.714 million, making it $253.73 million total for 17 days in American theaters. In fact, the Jon Favreau picture claimed the sixth biggest third-weekend box office gross of all time.

In particular, The Jungle Book surpassed both Dark Knight sequels, Iron Man 3, and even Avengers: Age of Ultron. However, on its third weekend, Walt Disney’s blockbuster failed to surpass such giants as Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Spider-Man, Jurassic World, The Avengers, and Avatar, according to Forbes.

And another impressive detail about The Jungle Book is that it had the smallest third-weekend drop from its second weekend. As for a $100 million blockbuster, it had only 29 percent weekend-to-weekend drop. In contrast, Spider-Man had a 36 percent drop in weekend three and had owned the record before the Jon Favreau blockbuster.

Although it’s unlikely for The Jungle Book to reach $400 million domestic, all five films with bigger third weekends ahead of the Walt Disney’s blockbuster reached $400 million. But even Spider-Man ended with $403 million, which makes it practically impossible for The Jungle Book to reach such heights.

For the record, Spider-Man had $285 million on its 17th day, while The Jungle Book had nearly $254 million. However, on its 17th day, the Jon Favreau picture is already $53 million ahead of Zootopia and about $8 million ahead of Inside Out, an animated comedy-drama adventure film released by Pixar last year.

Minions, the animated comedy film produced by Illumination Entertainment, was lucky enough to open in summer last year and earn $115 million for its opening weekend. And by its third weekend, it already had $263 million, which is slightly higher than The Jungle Book‘s $254 million.

Minions ended with $336 million, Spider-Man with $403 million, Inside Out with $353 million, while Zootopia will probably cross the $340 million mark when it finishes its run. And while many movie critics predicted that Captain America: Civil War would stall the success of The Jungle Book when it opened on Thursday this week, it’s not as simple as it looks at first glance.

North American moviegoers have repeatedly proven that they can keep two mega blockbusters afloat for several weeks at the same time. And the first example that pops into mind is Inside Out opening at $91 million the week after Jurassic World last year.

In fact, Inside Out kept up the pace for several weeks straight up until it was up against Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation, Ant-Man, and Straight Outta Compton at the end of summer 2015. So it’s fair to say that both Captain America: Civil War and The Jungle Book will probably go hand in hand independently starting from last weekend.

And even though it’s no wonder Captain America: Civil War had a big opening weekend, The Jungle Book will still manage to bring big numbers for its fourth and fifth weekend. And it’s somewhat an irony that Walt Disney’s The Jungle Book could prevent Walt Disney’s Captain America: Civil War from possibly setting huge May records this weekend.

The Jungle Book is based on Rudyard Kipling’s collective works and inspired by 1967 animated film of the same name. The film features voices of Ben Kingsley, Christopher Walken, Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong’o, and Giancarlo Esposito.

[Composite image containing photos by Tinseltown, Panom/Shutterstock.com]

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