Weekend box office: The Huntsman can’t beat The Jungle Book

Brad Sturdivant April 24th, 2016

Although I’m sure Kristen Stewart is probably feeling good about herself this morning, no one should be blind enough to think her lack of involvement in THE HUNTSMAN: WINTER’S WAR had anything to do with its problems at the weekend box office. No, this was a case of a studio trying to squeeze a franchise out of a halfway decent movie that had no business getting a sequel. And the nicest thing any critic has to say about Huntsman is that it’s bad, but in a good way. That’s not a compliment that’s going to get people out of their sofas to go see a movie, but it should bode well when the film hits home video formats in a few months. Nothing else opened wide this week and only a handful of films had limited openings, such as HOLOGRAM FOR THE KING, ELVIS & NIXON and THE MEDDLER, none of which turned any heads.

Next weekend is another clunker of a weekend with nothing too exciting coming out. First we have KEANU, featuring the comedic duo from Key & Peele. For a comedy, the trailers are surprisingly unfunny and the film hasn’t gotten good early reviews, so I fear it’s going to struggle to find an audience. Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele are funny guys, but I don’t see this being the best showcase of their talents. Next we have MOTHER’S DAY, which at this point is kind of just making fun of Garry Marshall. At 82 years-old, the legendary director is embarrassing himself with NEW YEAR’S EVE and VALENTINE’S DAY. Another holiday-titled movie and he’ll be the realization of a SNL sketch. With little competition, I suspect THE JUNGLE BOOK will rule the box office again next week. Note: the numbers below will be updated as they become final.

1. The Jungle Book $61.2m

2. The Huntsman: Winter’s War $20.3m

3. Barbershop: The Next Cut $9.4m

4. Zootopia $6.8m

5. The Boss $6.1m

6. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice $5.4m

7. Criminal $3.5m

8. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 $2.2m

9. Miracles From Heaven $1.2m

10. God’s Not Dead 2 $1.1m

(Deadline)