Jungle Cruise: Breaking down box office reception of Disney film, starring Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt

Jungle Cruise, led by Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, drew audience to theatres despite growing concerns of the delta variant. The adventure fantasy film follows Blunt’s character Dr Lily Houghton and her brother as they employ a charismatic, pun-cracking but mysterious boat owner to sail up the Amazon in search of a tree with magical healing powers. Following in the footsteps of Pirates of the Caribbean, it is loosely based on the Jungle Cruise river boat attraction at various Disney theme parks — the earliest of which dates back to the original opening of California’s Disneyland more than six decades ago. Box office performance exceeded expectations

• The Disney film starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt exceeded expectations by pulling in more than $34.1 million over the weekend.
• The adventure film was estimated to open with around $25 million to $30 million domestically, but it outpaced those numbers despite the surge in the coronavirus cases.
• Globally, Jungle Cruise brought in a total of $90 million, including $27.6 million in the international box office and more than $30 million from Disney Plus.

Hybrid release strategy instrumental in film’s box office success

• Variety notes that for a film that had a budget of $200 million, its box office earnings would have been a disappointment had it released pre-pandemic. A film like Jungle Cruise would have typically earned a minimum of $500 million overall.
• Disney had previously opted for a hybrid release for Emma Stone-starrer Cruella, as well as superhero film Black Widow.

Outperformed Green Knight 

• Jungle Cruise also earned five times more than The Green Knight, which came in at No 2 with $6.78 million. The A24 film starring Dev Patel barely edged M Night Shyamalan’s Old, which had $6.76 million after scoring the top spot last weekend.

• Black Widow placed fourth after a past week of turmoil between Disney and the film’s lead, Scarlett Johansson. The actor sued the studio over the film’s streaming release, which she said breached her contract and deprived her of potential earnings. Disney responded to Johansson’s claim saying she received $20 million in compensation and that she benefited from Disney Plus’ revenue.

• Matt Damon’s Stillwater opened at No 5 with $5.1 million but faced criticism as well. The drama film was blasted by Amanda Knox, who spoke out last week about her name being associated with the new movie, saying any connection rips off her story without her consent at the “expense of my reputation.” Knox called out the film’s director Tom McCarthy in a series of tweets for using her name to promote the movie.

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• Space Jam: A New Legacy has progressively dropped to No 6 after going No 1 two weeks ago.

• Snake Eyes fell to seventh after the film starring Henry Golding as the warrior-in-training debuted No 2 last week.

• F9: The Fast Saga placed eighth at the box office. The film pulled in $2.6 million and totalled more than $168 million domestically after six weeks.

• Escape Room: Tournament of Champions and The Boss Baby: Family Business rounded out the top 10.