Entertainment

Four Of Disney’s Movies Dominate At The Box Office

Published on: May 30, 2016 at 2:38 PM
By Jeffrey Totey

Disney continues to dominate at the box office, despite the fact that 20 th Century Fox is expected to win the Memorial Day weekend box office numbers. While 20 th Century Fox is having an impressive weekend earning $80 million for X-Men: Apocalypse and beating out Disney’s Alice Through the Looking Glass ($34.2 million), according to studio estimates, four of Disney’s most recent releases are still in top ten.

As of Memorial Day morning, Disney movies in the theaters include Alice through the Looking Glass was No. 2, Captain America: Civil War was No. 4, The Jungle Book was No. 6, and Zootopia , which is to be released on DVD and Blu-Ray on June 7, is still holding strong at No. 10.

Even with the huge box office total for X-Men: Apocalypse , the ninth movie in the franchise did lower than expected (the last X-Men movie, X-Men: Days of Future Past , also released on Memorial Day weekend in 2014 and made $100.6 million) which was probably hurt by the Disney competition. Both Apocalypse and Alice started the weekend on shaky ground with negative reviews from critics. Apocalypse received a 48 percent positive critical rating from Rotten Tomatoes, but the Disney film suffered more with just 30 percent approval, reports USA Today .

Disney shouldn’t feel too bad, though, as Alice did top the foreign box office , making $65 million from 80 foreign territories, including an estimated $27.1 million in China, $5 million in Mexico, $4.6 million in Russia, and $4.1 million in Brazil.

Angry Birds was No. 1, but that was so last week. The Birds’ ticket sales dropped 50 percent this weekend, and isn’t expected to jump back up. Neighbors 2 also dropped. Meanwhile, Disney/Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War’s fourth weekend in the theater earned the film another $15.1 million, reports Forbes . The Captain continues to be this year’s top grossing film for 2016. The Jungle Book (with a sequel already in the works) earned about $9 million more, and Zootopia , now in its 12th week in theaters, earned another $1.25 million.

Of the four Disney movies still playing in theaters, the biggest surprise is the staying power of Zootopia, which had little buzz before it made it to the big screen, but critics and audiences love the animated picture.

Related reports from The Inquisitr:

“Oh, and it is the second-biggest ‘original’ movie ever released (not accounting for inflation) behind only James Cameron’s Avatar ,” says Scott Mendelson for Forbes . “ Zootopia was not based on a television show, a comic book, a novel, or a stage play. It was not a sequel, prequel, or reboot from an existing franchise. It is not based on an actual historical event. It was an entirely original concoction.”

While not high of profile as Pixar’s Finding Dory , coming to theaters in just a few weeks, Zootopia is the little animation train that could becoming the fourth-biggest animated film ever. (To date, the top three are Toy Story 3 , Minions, and Frozen .) Mendelson also reports that Zootopia is also the “sixth-biggest ‘non-sequel/prequel’ of all time, behind Alice in Wonderland ($1.025 billion), Jurassic Park ($1.029 billion, including the 2013 3D reissue), Frozen ($1.27 billion), Titanic ($2.186 billion), and Avatar ($2.787 billion)” and is Disney’s eleventh-biggest movie ever globally.

Disney’s upcoming movies for 2016 include the sequel to Finding Nemo , Finding Dory, on June 17, Steven Spielberg’s The BFG on July 1, a re-imagined Pete’s Dragon on August 12, Queen of Katwe on September 23, the animated Moana on November 23, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story on December 16.

[Image via Walt Disney Pictures]

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