• Box Office

World Box Office, April 25-May 1

In an action-packed weekend filled with big sales and few surprises Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War stormed onto the international scene and posted a huge $200.2 million from 37 international markets.  So far estimates show that is opening 5% below Age Of Ultron and 25% ahead of both Iron Man 3 and The Avengers, each of which sit on the all-time top ten list for worldwide film sales. Civil War’s biggest market is South Korea, where it made $28.9 million followed by Mexico’s $20.6 million, with the UK close behind at $20.5 million. Next was Brazil at $12.3 million, and after that Australia at $10.9 million. The picture centers on Chris Evans as the title character Captain America, who , in the aftermath of the events of Age of Ultron , finds himself in conflict with Iron Man and most of the Avengers. It stars, among others:  Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Anthony Mackie, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Marisa Tomei, Alfre Woodard, William Hurt and Paul Rudd. Next week it opens in Italy, Russia, China, and the US.

The domestic box office meanwhile went once again to Disney’s Jungle Book beasts. For the third time in a row the John Favreau-directed live action reboot of the Disney golden age cartoon swept away the competition in its home market, posting $42.4 million and a mere 31% drop. Its domestic cumulative is now $252 million and though Civil War’s American release will take most of its steam away, Jungle Book will likely hold on to the majority of the family and small children’s market for the next few weeks.

Jungle Book made $57.1 million overseas as well, which pushed it along to a $684 million international cumulative. It has reached $42.5 million in the UK, $19.1 million in France, $14.1 million in Germany and $11.7 million in Spain. In China, easily its biggest foreign market, The Jungle Book has now earned  $129.8 million and overtook The Force Awakens to become Disney’s second biggest live action release in the Middle Kingdom, behind Age of Ultron.

While most of the US was mesmerized by Jungle Book’s Bagheera, and Shere Khan, a smaller feline made its way into the country’s theatres this weekend. New Line’s Keanu, which stars Keegan Michael-Key and Jordan Peele as a pair of friends who are forced to venture into the Los Angeles criminal underworld after their kitten, whom the film is named after, is stolen during a robbery. It makes little qualms at poking fun at John Wick, where the title character (played by Keanu Reeves) goes on a 90-minute-long rampage after the Russian mafia kills his dog. Keanu opened in third place with 9.35 million.

Holdover The Huntsman: Winter’s War meanwhile came in just ahead at $9.39 million, a 51% drop from its already disappointing first weekend. Overseas it made $7.4 million, and it reached a global cumulative $130 million. At a cost of  $115 million, this picture seems destined to be a major liability for  Universal.

Next week we’ll follow Captain America: Civil War’s US and China launch, and get a clearer idea of just how far this film will make it into the history books.