It seems Disney may have found old Mother Nature's recipe in the massive success of Jon Favreau's remake of the classic Disney cartoon and Rudyard Kipling novel, The Jungle Book, in The Weekend Box Office.
Unlike old Baloo the Bear, whose main concern was hibernation, The Jungle Book kept itself in the game. Aside from earning a whopping $103.6 million in its opening weekend, it is also the number one movie in the world for the second week in a row.
Thank you for making The #JungleBook the #1 movie in the world 2 weeks in a row! https://t.co/YokWgbaaLs
— The Jungle Book (@TheJungleBook) April 25, 2016
Due to the overwhelming success of Favreau's live-action adaptation of Disney's classic cartoon, the studio has claimed that one of the five release dates between 2017 and 2019 is reserved for its sequel.
Since it's now in production, there are speculations that Jungle Book 2 may just challenge the Warner Bros. backed, Andy Serkis adaptation of the same story, which is scheduled for release in October 2018. If Disney intends to do this, then it would only mean Jungle Book 2 would be released either in its August or November reserved spot. It should be an interesting competition.
While we all wait for a confirmed release date, let us all enjoy Christopher Walken singing "I Wanna Be Like You" as King Louie — an appropriate song for any film aiming to achieve The Jungle Book's success.
Disney's The Jungle Book has already earned $533 million globally, but that is not its only achievement. Favreau's film is currently the highest grossing Hollywood film in India, where it faces pretty stiff competition in the country's Bollywood-dominated industry.
It is also just $3 million shy of the $100 million mark in China, the second largest film market in the world. Another incredibly impressive feat, since China's film market is heavy on censorship and usually has limited options for non-locally made films.
"The Jungle Book proves that a four-quadrant PG-rated movie can have appeal to virtually every demographic and with the quality of moviemaking to back up the hype, the results have been staggering," ComScore Senior Media Analyst Paul Dergarabedian said.
Surely, IMAX is enjoying another big haul because of Mowgli and his friends.
