‘The Jungle Book’ Is Pouncing on $87 Million Opening Weekend

Disney’s live-action remake earns $32.4 million at the Friday box office

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“The Jungle Book” earned an estimated $32.4 million on Friday as Disney’s new live-action family film seems ready to pounce on an impressive $87 million opening weekend.

Director Jon Favreau‘s adaptation of the Rudyard Kipling classic opened in 4,028 theaters and earned an A from CinemaScore audiences as well as a 95 percent Rotten Tomatoes score.

MGM-New Line’s sequel comedy “Barber Shop: The Next Cut” is expected to snip off about $20 million in box office from 2,661 locations, coming in a distant second Friday with $7 million.

In its second weekend in theaters, “The Boss,” starring Melissa McCarthy, took third place on Friday with $3.1 million. Warner Brothers comic book tent-pole “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” held fourth position with $2.4 million on Friday.

“The Jungle Book” grossed $4.2 million on Thursday, the same amount “Maleficent” earned on its 2014 Thursday debut — but Disney’s latest live-action remake of an animated classic moved past the Angelina Jolie film as the weekend progressed — as “Maleficent” earned only $24.3 million on its opening Friday, going on to hit $69.4 million during its opening weekend.

“Jungle Book” also surpassed Disney’s 2015 live-action fairy-tale remake “Cinderella,” which opened to $23 million Friday and garnered a first-weekend total of $67.9 million.

Initial projections for “Jungle Book” ranged wildly from $65 million to $87 million. But now it’s looking like the higher projections will prevail.

“The Jungle Book” is a second live-action remake of Disney’s 1967 classic animated feature, based on Kipling’s stories about Mowgli, an abandoned boy who is raised by wolves and a black panther named Bagheera.

The 2016 film stars Bill Murray as Baloo, Ben Kingsley as Bagheera, Scarlett Johansson as Kaa, Lupita Nyong’o as Raksha and newcomer Neel Sethi as Mowgli.

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