Disney film roars with $103.6 million debut
By Jake Coyle, Film Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --The Walt Disney Co.'s "The Jungle Book" opened with $103.6 million in North America, making it one of the biggest April debuts ever at the box office and continuing the studio's streak of unearthing live-action riches buried in its animated classics.
Jon Favreau's update of Disney's 1967 animated version of Rudyard Kipling's book tells the tale of Mowgli with computer-generated imagery and big-screen bombast. A sizable 42 percent of the film's domestic sales came from 3-D and premium-format screens.
"The Jungle Book" is just the latest of Disney's string of live-action remakes of classic cartoons ("Cinderella," ''Alice in Wonderland," ''Maleficent"), most of which have fared well at the box office. More plundering of the Disney library is in the works: "Cruella De Ville" and "Peter Pan" are in development; "Beauty and the Beast" is scheduled for next March.
"There's some consistency that's happened here in the last few years as we've really made this a priority and a strategy from a company perspective," said Disney distribution head Dave Hollis, who credited production president Sean Bailey with overseeing the live-action adaptations. "He's been able to do it in a way that really makes them contemporary and, certainly in this case, fully utilizes available technology.
"We've got a lot more of these stories to tell."
"The Jungle Book," made for about $175 million, was propelled by glowing reviews from critics. It ranks as the second biggest April opening ever, behind only "Furious 7's" $147.2 million debut.
It also took in an estimated $136.1 million overseas that includes $20.1 million so far in India where it's the third-highest grossing Hollywood release after 10 days. Ahead of the film's big opening, Warner Bros. – sensing stiff competition – pushed the release of its own "Jungle Book" a year to October 2018.
Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for comScore, says that the live-action remakes are proving to be another substantial engine for Disney, along with its franchise-building assets in Marvel, Pixar and Lucasfilm.
"To have this incredible vault of content that they can go back to and reimagine, retool and recreate for today's audiences just gives them a depth and breadth of films that is almost unparalleled," Dergarabedian said. "Disney has this knack for taking something that's very old and making it new again."
Opening in second place was Ice Cube's "Barbershop: The Next Cut" with $20.2 million. The fourth film in the comedy series (which included the 2005 spinoff "Beauty Shop") failed to match the $24.2 million debut of the previous "Barber Shop 2: Back in Business" in 2004, but it still supplied a solid opening for New Line and MGM.
The Kevin Costner action thriller "Criminal," however, opened with a mere $5.9 million for Lionsgate. It cost around $30 million to make.
The Melissa McCarthy comedy "The Boss," the number 1 film last weekend, dropped steeply. It slid 57 percent with $10.2 million in its second week, landing in third place.
Two well-reviewed films opened in limited release: the Weinstein Co.'s musical coming-of-age tale "Sing Street" ($69,000 in five theaters) and A24's bloody thriller "Green Room" ($91,000 in three theaters).
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to comScore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. "The Jungle Book," $103.6 million ($136.1 million international).
2. "Barbershop: The Next Cut," $20.2 million.
3. "The Boss," $10.2 million ($2.5 million international).
4. "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," $9 million ($15.1 million international).
5. "Zootopia," $8.2 million ($10.8 million international).
6. "Criminal," $5.9 million ($2 million international).
7. "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2," $3.3 million. ($1.3 million international).
8. "Miracles From Heaven," $1.9 million.
9. "God's Not Dead 2," $1.7 million.
10. "Eye in the Sky," $1.6 million ($1.9 million international).
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada), according to comScore:
1. "The Jungle Book," $136.1 million.
2. "The Huntsman: Winter's War," $17.6 million.
3. "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," $15.1 million.
4. "Zootopia," $10.8 million.
5. "London Has Fallen," $9 million.
6. "Kung Fu Panda 3," $7.5 million.
7. "10 Cloverfield Lane," $4 million.
8. "Les Visiteurs: La Revolution," $3.5 million.
9. "The Divergent Series: Allegiant," $3 million.
10. "The Boss," $2.5 million.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More