--- description: It's heading for a near-historic April opening title: 'The Jungle Book' Dominates Box Office With $32M Friday image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc8562d9eeb47e0d3/69888f65a988ca80746b7718/the-jungle-book_r6qyzk.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # _The Jungle Book_ Dominates Box Office With $32M Friday by [Pamela McClintock / The Hollywood Reporter](/author/the-hollywood-reporter/) ## Pamela McClintock / The Hollywood Reporter Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 16, 2016 5:01 PM CUT  The Jungle Book The Jungle BookWalt Disney Pictures by [Pamela McClintock / The Hollywood Reporter](/author/the-hollywood-reporter/) ## Pamela McClintock / The Hollywood Reporter Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 16, 2016 5:01 PM CUT Holy Mowgli! Jon Favreau’s [_The Jungle Book_](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/jungle-book-film-review-880131 "undefined"), the latest offering from Disney’s live-action studio, is doing huge business in its debut at the North American box office, grossing $32.4 million on Friday for a projected $87 million-$90 million weekend, one of the top openings of all time for the month of April. The movie’s better-than-expected performance — fueled by stellar reviews and an A CinemaScore — is yet another victory for Disney as it reimagines its classic titles. At this pace, the $175 tentpole will come ahead of fellow Disney titles _Cinderella_ ($67.9 million), _Oz_ _the Great and Powerful_ ($79.1 million and _Maleficent_ ($69.4 million). _Jungle Book_ is a reimagining of Rudyard Kipling’s eponymous book about an orphaned human boy whose guardians are animals. The live-action/CGI hybrid introduces Neel Sethi as Mowgli and features the voices of Bill Murray, Idris Elba, Ben Kingsley, Lupita Nyong’o and Scarlett Johansson. Disney opens the movie in 4,208 theaters in North America; more than 3,000 of those will offer the film in a variety of premium formats, including 4D, 3D and Imax. Overseas, _The Jungle Book_ already has grossed north of $30 million after opening in a handful of markets last weekend. It opens in other counties this weekend — including China, the U.K., France, Germany and Mexico — and could take in $75 million or more internationally. _The Jungle Book_ already has grossed $57.1 million from its first foreign markets, including doing record-breaking business in India — where Hollywood entries typically have a tough time — and Russia. Two other films open this weekend, Ice Cube’s [_Barbershop: The Next Cut_](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/barbershop-next-cut-film-review-882658 "undefined") and the older-skewing action thriller _Criminal_, starring Kevin Costner and Tommy Lee Jones. Boosted by strong reviews and an A- CinemaScore, _Barbershop 3_ is looking at debut in the $19 million range-$20 million range for New Line and MGM after earning $7 million Friday, somewhat behind expectations but good enough for the No. 2 spot. [_Criminal_](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/criminal-film-review-881901 "undefined") is struggling in its debut, with a projected weekend gross of $6 million-$7 million. [_This article originally appeared at The Hollywood Reporter_](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/box-office-jungle-book-climbs-883622 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4296820/the-jungle-book-dominates-box-office-with-32m-friday/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4296820/the-jungle-book-dominates-box-office-with-32m-friday/"},"headline":"The Jungle Book Dominates Box Office With $32M Friday","datePublished":"2016-04-16T17:01:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T16:48:30.170Z","description":"It's heading for a near-historic April opening","url":"https://time.com/4296820/the-jungle-book-dominates-box-office-with-32m-friday/","keywords":["movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc8562d9eeb47e0d3/69888f65a988ca80746b7718/the-jungle-book_r6qyzk.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Pamela McClintock / The Hollywood Reporter"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc8562d9eeb47e0d3/69888f65a988ca80746b7718/the-jungle-book_r6qyzk.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"THE JUNGLE BOOK","caption":"THE JUNGLE BOOK","creditText":"Walt Disney Pictures","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4296820/the-jungle-book-dominates-box-office-with-32m-friday/","name":"The Jungle Book Dominates Box Office With $32M Friday"}}]}] ```