“Jungle Cruise” Wins $ 62 Million at Global Box Office and $ 30 Million Via Disney +

Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt Jungle cruise opened with a solid (but not spectacular) $ 34.2 million in its domestic theatrical debut. That’s a stable 2.55x weekend multiplier, and frankly in line with most “non-Fast and furious“Featured vehicles. Thought Carnage ($ 35.7 million) and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, which notched $ 36.2 million during the Friday-Sunday portion of a $ 72 million Christmas weekend launch from Wednesday to Monday.

Yes, Sony Jumanji 2 opened over Christmas and cost the country $ 404 million. However, even Warner Bros. ‘ Carnage still topped $ 100 million, even alongside WB Loan Player One, Paramount A quiet place and disney Avengers: Infinity War. Honestly, I would be more of a fanatic if the Walt Disney adventure hadn’t cost around $ 200 million.

This movie was given the green light before Covid was a thing. Under normal circumstances, I would have expected this star-driven (63% and 6/10 on Rotten Tomatoes) and well-received IP cash-in (an A- from Cinemascore) to explode as a result. I had long considered this one to be Disney’s best shot in a new live-action franchise since National treasure in 2004 and Pirates of the Caribbean in 2003.

Bob Iger’s reign was more about acquisition (Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, Fox) and explicit nostalgia (those live-action “reimaginations”) than creating “new” film franchises. It’s sad that we have to consider a $ 200 million, star-driven, Disney theme park-based action comedy almost ambitious, but that’s where we are. With roughly $ 62 million worldwide and $ 30 million in Disney + revenue (roughly one million households, and no one expected Jungle cruise shoot Black Widow numbers for whatever reason), Jaume Collet-Serra Jungle cruise should be counted as a “successful disappointment”.

I don’t know why Disney felt comfortable spending Dead man’s chest-level money (225 million dollars in 2006 only after The curse of the black pearl brought in $ 650 million on a budget of $ 130 million in 2003) on this proverbial The curse of the black pearl. They made the same mistake with The Lone Ranger in 2013). As such, Covid curve or not, it is quite possible that Jungle cruise would have ended up as a “disappointment with the cost” even in non-Covid times.

But now, by default, assuming some decent halfway legs after debut, this will likely be one of the biggest movies of the summer. The few Disney releases in 2021, except for Black Widow, showed remarkable legs. Ray and the last dragon isn’t a distant success, but it grossed $ 55 million domestically on an initial launch of $ 8.5 million, making it the largest release of the “pandemic era.”

Cruel grossed $ 85 million nationally from its $ 26.5 million debut between Friday and Monday, making it one of the longest-running Memorial Day launches in recent memory. Considering that Disney is only in the 20th century free guy on tap for August 13. As such, it can do Jungle cruise a priority up to Shang-Chi and the legend of the ten rings on labor day.

Plus most of what’s left of here Venom 2 is either hostile to children (The Suicide Squad, Don’t Breathe 2, Reminiscence, Candyman, Clever, Queenpins, etc.) or hostile to parents (Paw Patrol). The only family competition over the next couple of months for these final Disney greats is other Disney greats. It would be less of a problem if adults still saw adult films in theaters.

Jungle cruise can at least boast of a bigger start than Space Jam: a new legacy ($ 31 million), which in itself would have been considered a massive disaster (in part because of the $ 150 million budget) under normal circumstances. Is this just Covid, or is it just a repeat of 2016?

We’ve seen a lot of really big ‘once were special’ franchise movies (Alice Through the Looking Glass, X-Men: Apocalypse, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, Independence Day: Resurgence, Ghostbusters, Star Trek Beyond, etc.) disappointing or downright tanking due to public indifference. Suicide Squad “saved the summer” at the beginning of August. we’ll see if The suicide squad works the same next weekend, or ends with another unrequested / once special franchise smell?