Box Office: ‘Jungle Cruise’ Tops Friday With $13.4 Million

Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt’s Jungle Cruise will likely open with $32 million but could (if it legs like Rampage and Jumanji: The Next Level) approach a $40 million Fri-Sun debut.

Walt Disney’s Jungle Cruise easily topped the domestic box office on Friday with $13.378 million. That’s likely to lead to an over/under $32 million weekend, for a decent-enough 2.42x weekend multiplier. In normal times, $32 million would be disappointing for this reported $200 million Dwayne Johnson/Emily Blunt action fantasy. However, with pandemic-specific circumstances not improving following the widespread existence more contagious Delta variant (and a large volume of Americans currently unvaccinated or unwilling to be vaccinated), this one may likely have to be judged on a stronger “Covid curve.”

So, yes, like Space Jam: A New Legacy and its $31 million debut two weeks ago, a $32 million launch for Jungle Cruise would be a “successful disappointment.” However, I’m more inclined to argue that this flick absolutely would have notched a bigger/better opening weekend in conventional circumstances. In normal times, a decently-reviewed (63% fresh and 6/10 on Rotten Tomatoes) Walt Disney live-action adventure flick starring two kid-friendly and well-liked movie stars and based on a famously enjoyable theme park ride which offered at least the promise of Mummy/Pirates of the Caribbean-style thrills would be an easy sell.

Even in non-Covid times amid a conventional theatrical environment, Snake Eyes was always likely to bomb and Space Jam: A New Legacy was a commercial question mark. Heck, I’d say the same thing about The Suicide Squad (five-years-later sequel to a somewhat disliked smash hit which lacks most of the elements that drove folks to see it in the first place), but we’ll see if sky-high reviews can move the needle next weekend. But Jungle Cruise would likely have flirted with a $50 million debut had it opened sans Disney+ Premier Access and sans Covid last July as initially intended. It might have been Disney’s first new live-action franchise (outside of the MCU) since National Treasure in 2004.

Mendelson, S. (2021, July 31). Box Office: ‘Jungle Cruise’ Tops Friday With $13.4 Million. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2021/07/31/friday-box-office-jungle-cruise-disney-emily-blunt-dwayne-johnson/?sh=69d6908a4e63