'Jungle Book' Opens with Massive $103 Million, Global Cume Tops $290M

Disney's The Jungle Book delivers the third $100+ million opener of 2016, two more than 2015 had at this point in the year and Captain America: Civil War is just around the corner. The weekend's two other new wide releases saw WB and MGM's Barbershop: The Next Cut finish second while Lionsgate's Criminal settled for a sixth place finish. Altogether, the weekend top twelve finished up 50.2% compared to last year and up 76.6% from last weekend.

With an estimated $103.5 million opening, The Jungle Book will be the talk of the town for the next couple weeks. It's an opening number that exceeds all expectations despite the pre-release buzz. Heading into the weekend the film had an impressive 95% rating at RottenTomatoes, a rating that was reflected in audience opinion as opening day moviegoers rewarded it with an "A" CinemaScore. The result is the second largest April opening weekend of all-time behind only last year's Furious 7. Estimates say 43% of the film's domestic opening came from 3D equipped theaters and 10% of the domestic weekend came from 376 IMAX screens.

Internationally the film expanded into a total of 49 international territories from which it brought in $136.1 million, bringing the family feature's global tally to a whopping $290.9 million. Of those territories the leader is China with an estimated $50.3 million weekend. International cumes for other territories include India with $20.1 million followed by Russia ($14.2m), UK ($13.7m), Australia ($7.9m), France ($7.7m), Mexico ($7.6m), Germany ($5.6m), Argentina ($4.8m), Malaysia ($4.0m), Spain ($3.9m), Brazil ($3.1m) and Italy ($3.1m). Next weekend sees openings in the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary and New Zealand while it won't open in Korea until June and Japan won't be getting it until August.

The Jungle Book's opening weekend is shy only of Alice in Wonderland's $116.1 million opening back in 2010 when compared to Disney's recent fantasy adaptations and should be well on its way to a $300+ million domestic run.

[...] Below The Boss in fourth position is Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice with an estimated $9 million as it dropped 61.4% in its fourth weekend in release. The film's domestic cume is now up to $311.3 million to go along with an international total of $516 million for a current global take of over $825 million.

Average Movie Ticket Price Jumps to Record $8.58 in First Quarter

The cost of going to the movies jumped to $8.58 in the first quarter of 2015, a record amount for the winter months and first part of spring, according to the National Association of Theatre Owners.

That represents a 6 percent year-over-year increase from Q1 in 2015, when the average ticket price was $8.12. The spike is due in large measure to tentpoles including Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which played well into January, Deadpool, Zootopia and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Still, the average ticket price in Q1 was down from the final quarter of 2015 ($8.70). For the full year, the average ticket price was $8.43 in 2015, the biggest gain in five years.

The growth of premium seating options, as well as 3D, continues to drive up the average cost.

Overall, Hollywood and theater owners in North America celebrated a record year in 2015 as revenue hit $11.12 billion, eclipsing the previous best set in 2012 ($10.9 billion).

'Deadpool,' 'Batman v Superman' Boost Imax Earnings

Strong box-office grosses from Hollywood tentpoles like Deadpool and Batman v. Superman helped Imax Corp. on Thursday to post a sharp increase in first-quarter revenue and earnings.

And company execs told a morning analyst call that a combination of Hollywood tentpoles like The Jungle Book and Captain America: Civil War that appeal to families and fan boys promise strong box office from the 2016 slate.

Imax reported net income of $12.2 million for the three months to March 31, up from a profit of $1.5 million in 2015. First-quarter revenue was $92.1 million, up 64 percent from a year-earlier $62.2 million.

During the first quarter, Toronto-based Imax signed contracts for 36 theaters, of which all but one were for new locations, and geographically stretched to China, Japan and India as the giant-screen exhibitor continues to expand worldwide.

The strong quarterly performance was equally sustained by ticket receipts from Hollywood tentpoles. Global box office rose 64 percent to $272 million, with growth in both domestic and international box office.

The average global box office per screen for digitally re-mastered movies in the first quarter was $284,000, compared with $202,900 in the same period of 2015. "The pace of Imax theater signings, installations and box office growth, both domestically and globally, continues to drive real momentum in the business," Imax CEO Richard Gelfond said in a statement ahead of a morning conference call with analysts.

Imax installed another seven theaters in China during the latest quarter, against five in the same period of 2015. Box office from the Imax China unit was $83.4 million in the first quarter, against a year-earlier $63 million, with the per-screen average virtually unchanged at $290,000.

Gelfond told analysts of his continuing optimism for the fast-growing exhibition market in China, despite that country's continuing economic clouds. "While there have been understandable concerns raised about the broader Chinese economy, the cinema as an affordable form of entertainment remains very strong, and on track to pass the U.S. by 2017," he said.

Imax has said it will continue its expansion in the Chinese market with the installation of 100 new screens in 2016. In 2015, the company installed a record 74 giant screens, bringing its country-wide network total to 307 theaters.

On the film front, Gelfond said box office for the second quarter of 2016 is off to a good start, with The Jungle Book generating over $20 million in Imax theaters during its opening weekend, and "strong pre-sales activity" for Captain America: Civil War, which has around 30 minutes of footage shot with dedicated Imax cameras.

Possible 2016 sleeper hits for Imax include Warner Bros.' Suicide Squad and Marvel's Doctor Strange, Greg Foster, CEO of Imax Entertainment, told analysts. Imax is also bullish about Clint Eastwood's Sully, the Miracle-on-the-Hudson biopic starring Tom Hanks as pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, and which was shot almost entirely with a dedicated Imax camera.

Also on the technology front, Foster told analysts that his company would start employing Imax cameras to shoot local-language Chinese films within the next year. The adjusted earnings per share of 22 cents for the first quarter of 2016 beat an analyst estimate of 15 cents per share.

The giant-screen exhibitor predicted it will release around 44 digitally re-mastered movies in fiscal 2016, with titles like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and The Legend of Tarzan also on the slate.

"Cume". Now that's a "word" to hate. That and "metrics", which are, of course, parameters or measures of quantitative assessment used for measurement, comparison or to track performance or production.
And don't get me started on "big pharma".

Updated: 'Captain America: Civil War' Hauls in $25M from Thursday Night Previews

Friday AM Update: Captain America: Civil War brought in $25 million from Thursday night previews, the tenth largest Thursday night number of all-time (including midnight-only screenings). This Thursday number is just behind the $27.6 million posted by Avengers: Age of Ultron last year and $27.7 million brought in by Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice earlier this year. Both films went on to gross over $80 million on Friday, the question as to whether Civil War will be able to top $200 million for the weekend depends on audience response and how well it ultimately plays on Saturday and Sunday.

Additionally, updated international figures for Civil War bring the international total to $291.2 million and that's not including early reports from China where it's being reported the film brought in $30.6 million on its opening day. For a larger breakdown of its international performance so far click here and stay tuned as we'll have Friday estimates for you tomorrow morning.

Weekend Preview: After a $200.4 million international debut last weekend, Disney and Marvel's Captain America: Civil War is set to make its domestic debut, aiming to become only the fourth film to gross over $200 million in its opening weekend. Meanwhile, several of the other films in the top ten could be in for dramatic drops from last weekend. Last year, while Avengers: Age of Ultron was opening to $191.2 million, all but one film (Cinderella) dropped over 53%. How will the holdovers fair against the latest Marvel juggernaut?

When it comes to Captain America: Civil War the question as to whether it will hit $200 million or not seems to be of little dispute. Granted, many thought Age of Ultron would follow the path paved by its predecessor and open with $200+ million last year before coming up just shy. That said, strong reviews and swelling fan anticipation for Civil War (92% on RottenTomatoes as of press time) should go a long way to helping this one out this weekend. Additionally, Fandango is reporting Civil War has generated record-breaking advance ticket sales, ranking as the online ticket retailer's #1 pre-selling superhero movie of all time, surpassing Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Avengers: Age of Ultron and The Avengers.

For the sake of comparison, and something to track as Thursday night preview numbers and Friday estimates are revealed, here's a breakdown of those films along with the other two $200+ million openers, Jurassic World and Star Wars: The Force Awakens:

Batman v Superman - Fri. $81.5m (inc. $27.7m Thurs. previews) / Sat $50.6m / Sun $33.7m / WE $166m
Age of Ultron - Fri. $84.4m (inc. $27.6m Thurs. previews) / Sat $56.5m / Sun $50.3m / WE $191.2m
The Avengers - Fri. $80.8m (inc. $18.7m midnight previews) / Sat $69.5m / Sun $57m / WE $207.4m
Jurassic World - Fri. $81.9m (inc. $18.5m Thurs. previews) / Sat $69.9m / Sun $57.2m / WE $208.8m
Star Wars: Force Awakens - Fri. $119.1m (inc. $57m Thurs. previews) / Sat $68.2m / Sun $60.5m / WE $247.9m

Civil War is opening in 4,226 theaters, a fraction below the 4,276 theaters Age of Ultron debuted in and 123 fewer than the first Avengers opened in back in 2012. Of those theaters, Civil War will play at 378 IMAX locations (14 more than Ultron), 480 PLF locations (80 more than Ultron) and more than 3,300 locations will show the film in 3D, up from 2,761 for Ultron, which saw 44% of its overall weekend come from 3D showings. Also last year, Jurassic World opened in 4,274 theaters of which 363 were IMAX locations, approximately 400 were PLF locations and the film saw 48% of its overall weekend haul come from the 3,303 theaters that debuted the film in 3D.

Therefore, while Civil War may be playing in slightly fewer overall theaters than the comparisons above, it does have more premium opportunities, which helps the argument toward higher box office returns. That said, a weekend over $200 million is easy to forecast and even as much as $215 million isn't at all unreasonable. What will be interesting is to see if a Marvel film can reach even higher than that.

When Star Wars: The Force Awakens reached $247.9 million it was clearly a result signifying an event, must-see film from a much-loved franchise. Does the thirteenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe carry the same cachet? Probably not the "same", but a Marvel installment as well-reviewed as Civil War and one that positions itself as more of an Avengers film rather than a standalone Captain America title should bring out larger audiences.

The $250 million budgeted film ($80 million more than Captain America: The Winter Soldier) also offers more than just the returning cast of recognizable and loved characters. The film also offers audiences their first look at Tom Holland as Sony's new Spider-Man (a character that has brought in over $1.57 billion domestically and nearly $4 billion worldwide) as well as Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa (aka Black Panther), both of which will have their own standalone films in the near future.

Internationally, Civil War opened in Italy yesterday, grossing an estimated $1.2 million, just 5% behind the opening day for Avengers: Age of Ultron as its international cume now totals $261.6 million after eight days in release. The film opens in Russia and Argentina today and China tomorrow. We won't be able to draw direct comparisons to Ultron's opening in China as it debuted on a Monday, and brought in over $155 million for its first week in release before bringing in over $240 million for its complete run.

This makes any kind of international forecasting difficult, but one thing is for certain, come end of day Saturday (if not Friday), Disney will become the fastest studio to gross over $1 billion domestically, decimating the record set by Universal last year. Both Disney and Universal went on to gross over $2 billion at the domestic box office last year and with the slate of films Disney has on the horizon this year, Universal's astonishing $2.4 billion last year may very well be in jeopardy.

Speaking of Disney's slate of films, the studio will occupy the top two slots at this weekend's box office as The Jungle Book's already impressive run must now compete with a film from its own studio. Last weekend the family hit only dropped 29% and this weekend it's actually adding 103 theaters. Of course, with Civil War hitting theaters a lot of attention will be drawn away from the rest of the films hitting theaters, but just how much will each film be affected?

Holdover films in the top ten dropped, on average, 55.3% during the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens; 45.5% during the release of Jurassic World; 55.86% during the release of 2012's The Avengers; and 51.8% during the release of Age of Ultron. Of note, however, is Disney's live action Cinderella dropped only 0.7% in its eighth weekend up against Age of Ultron. Granted, Cinderella's demographic isn't exactly the same as Civil War, but it does prove there is room for a family alternative against a superhero behemoth.

Looking even closer at the numbers, no holdover film has grossed more than $15.6 million in a weekend where the #1 film opened over $200 million and that was Spy last year, which was in its second weekend up against Jurassic World. In that regard, predicting a $22-26 million weekend for The Jungle Book goes against recent history, but the success of this film, and audience adulation for it, is impossible to ignore.

To the point of the overall average drop for holdover films in the top ten, the BoxOfficeMojo forecast predicts an average drop around 49.4%. Captain America: Civil War serves as the only major new release this weekend while Fox Searchlight released A Bigger Splash in four theaters on Wednesday and will add one more this weekend. Limited releases this weekend also include IFC's Dheepan, FilmRise's Elstree 1976 and Well Go's Phantom of the Theatre.

This weekend's forecast is directly below. This post will be updated on Friday morning with Thursday night preview results followed by Friday estimates on Saturday morning, and a complete weekend recap on Sunday morning.

Captain America: Civil War (4,226 theaters) - $210 M
The Jungle Book (2016) (4,144 theaters) - $24.48 M
Mother's Day (3,141 theaters) - $4.98 M
The Huntsman: Winter's War (2,896 theaters) - $4.43 M
Keanu (2,681 theaters) - $4.16 M
Zootopia (2,077 theaters) - $3.3 M
Barbershop: The Next Cut (1,734 theaters) - $2.98 M
Ratchet & Clank (2,895 theaters) - $2.14 M
The Boss (1,907 theaters) - $2.02 M
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (1,593 theaters) - $1.86 M

Saturday AM Update: Friday estimates are in and Captain America: Civil War's chances of becoming the fourth $200+ million opener have been dashed. With an estimated $75.2 million (including $25 million from Thursday night previews), the thirteenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is looking at a weekend around $175 million with an outside chance of finishing around $190 million if it follows the same weekend performance as Jurassic World, the first Avengers or even Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The fact all three of those films brought in less money on Thursday night, however, means it's less likely it will follow their weekend path.

Disney will not be sending over an international update this morning so stay tuned for that tomorrow. As of last report, however, Captain America: Civil War's international total was $291.2 million heading into the weekend, which puts the global total at $366.4 million including Friday's domestic number.

'Captain America: Civil War' Opens with $181.8 Million; Global Cume Climbs Over $675M

by Brad Brevet

May 8, 2016

Captain America: Civil War scorched the weekend box office, bringing in the fifth largest opening weekend of all-time. The massive debut contributed to Disney bringing in over $200 million this weekend as the studio became the fastest to cross the $1 billion mark in domestic earnings in just 128 days, decimating the 165 day record set by Universal just last year. And while Disney was setting records, the weekend also saw a stellar comeback for Open Road's Mother's Day as it took advantage of its holiday namesake.

With an estimated $181.79 million opening weekend, Civil War not only scored the fifth largest opening of all-time, it is the third largest opening for a film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). In fact, compared to the other standalone franchises in the MCU, the Captain America franchise continues to show the greatest film-over-film growth as Civil War's opening is a 91.3% increase over the opening for Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Also note, Disney under-estimated the opening weekend for Avengers: Age of Ultron last year by $3.6 million and some rival studios suggest Civil War may have brought in as much as $186 million this weekend.

Of course, heading into the weekend, expectations were undoubtedly high as Civil War looked as if it may be able to become only the fourth film to top $200 million in its first three days. The film's reported, $250 million budget is on par with the budget for Avengers: Age of Ultron and, given the film's sheer size and scope, Civil War plays much more like an Avengers film than your typical Marvel, standalone character feature. Added to that, Civil War saw great reviews heading into the weekend (91% on RottenTomatoes), record Fandango pre-sales for a superhero film, more premium ticket options and 3-D theaters than Ultron and the premiere of two new superheroes. Yet, don't for a second think of the film's opening as a disappointment.

Civil War scored an "A" CinemaScore, and solid holds over its first three days in release suggest a stellar domestic run is in the offing. Should it play out on par with the likes of The Winter Soldier it will likely pass $300 million domestically by next Sunday (if not sooner) and could surpass $450 million overall depending on how it holds on once X-Men: Apocalypse hits theaters on May 20.

Globally the film's total is now up to $678 million after launching internationally last weekend and bringing in an estimated $220 million from overseas markets this weekend. In fact, with $496.6 million internationally after just two weeks, it has already surpassed the lifetime international cumes of Captain America ($194M), Iron Man ($267M), Thor ($268M), Iron Man 2 ($312M), Ant-Man ($339M), Thor: The Dark World ($438M), Guardians of the Galaxy ($440M) and Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($455M).

All of this contributes to Disney's stranglehold on the 2016 box office where, as already mentioned, it became the fastest studio to cross $1 billion. On top of that, Disney has also become the fastest studio to reach $2 billion internationally and $3 billion globally, surpassing the previous industry records set last year in June.

Contributing to Disney's record is the weekend's #2 film, The Jungle Book, which dropped 50% this weekend and added an estimated $21.8 million to its domestic total, which is now just shy of $285 million. Internationally, The Jungle Book added $24.1 million this weekend from 52 territories as its global cume climbs to over $776 million, placing it third on the 2016 worldwide charts.

In third we find the impressive result for Open Road's Mother's Day. The ensemble feature had something of a disappointing opening weekend last week but rebounded well by seeing a 7.6% increase this weekend, bringing in an estimated $9 million as its cume now totals just over $20 million.

Not performing so well in their second weekends, WB's Keanu dropped 67.4% with an estimated $3 million and Ratchet & Clank clunked its way to a $1.46 million weekend, a 70% drop.

From a per theater perspective, Captain America: Civil War was also on top. The film played in 4,226 theaters and brought in $43,017 per. Behind it was Fox Searchlight's limited release of A Bigger Splash, which brought in an estimated $110,000 from five theaters, $22,000 per.

Overall, with three films on the chart, Disney took in over $206 million this weekend, which totals more than 88% of the overall weekend. The weekend top twelve totaled almost $230 million, an 88.1% increase compared to last year.

Next weekend sees the release of the Blumhouse horror The Darkness and Jodie Foster's Money Monster starring George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Jack O'Connell.