It’s not summer until you’ve seen that stupid Michael Jordan hot dog commercial they’ve been airing since the beginning of time. And it’s not the summer movie season until a bunch of overqualified actors don uncomfortable costumes and start striking action poses against green screens. The latter happens later this week, as Captain America: Civil War kicks off four months of turn-your-brain-off-and-enjoy popcorn fare. (Our review of the film, which did gangbusters business in a bunch of international markets this weekend, will drop tomorrow, while our big preview of the whole season arrives on Thursday.) If the first weekend of May is the multiplex equivalent of that banging graduation party everyone attends, then consider the last weekend of April senior skip day. Attendance is sparse.
This last weekend of April, for example, there were three new wide-release options, and all made less than what Civil War has probably already grossed in advance ticket sales. Leader of the pack was Keanu, the fledgling feature by comedy duo Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, which landed in second place with a modest $9.4 million opening. (The film only cost about $15 million to make, meaning that all involved will probably recoup what they spent, though does that count whatever the real Keanu charged to say a few lines into a microphone?) Two slots lower on the charts, Mother’s Day proved that assembling a dozen or more pained-looking celebrities is not a foolproof box-office draw. With just $8.3 million, the film did even worse than New Year’s Eve, itself an unsuccessful attempt to replicate the success of Garry Marshall’s first holiday-themed ensemble rom-com, Valentine’s Day. But at least it did better than the latest video game adaptation, Ratchet & Clank, whose $4.8 million opening probably means you won’t be seeing a big-screen Banjo-Kazooie any time soon.
Faced with such meager new competition, The Jungle Book easily won its third consecutive weekend, climbing to a King Louie-worthy $252 million. The film will surely be knocked from its perch in a few days, not that Disney is going to lose too much sleep about that: Civil War, remember, is also a Mouse House property, and it just collected $200 million in 14 worldwide territories, just a hair less than the full Avengers reunion held this time last year. In fact, with Star Wars, Zootopia, and The Jungle Book, the studio has already placed first half of all weekends this year, at least in the States. For Disney, it’s always summer.
For more detailed numbers, visit Box Office Mojo.