'Huntsman: Winter's War' Fails to Beat 'Jungle Book' by $40 Million

Movie

The sequel/prequel to 'Snow White and the Huntsman' was supported by big cast but the absence of Kristen Stewart is blamed for the lackluster income.

April 25, 2016

AceShowbiz -

"The Huntsman: Winter's War" is not powerful enough to beat "The Jungle Book". The prequel and sequel to "Snow White and the Huntsman" debuted to approximately $20.1 million while the "Jungle Book" CG/live-action took in a whooping $60.8 million in its second week.

Directed by Jon Favreau and featuring newcomer Neel Sethi, "Jungle Book" has earned a domestic total of $191.5 million in just 10 days in theaters. The pic "has proven to be a much more formidable movie than we expected. We knew it'd be a big hit, but no one could've known it'd be this huge," Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for comScore, said.

The problem with "Winter's War", according to Dergarabedian, lies in the absence of Kristen Stewart who played Snow White in the 2012 film. "She was a key reason for the opening of that first film," the analyst said. "That was going to be a tough act to follow." Despite getting the support from A-list actors such as Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron, Emily Blunt and Jessica Chastain, the sequel failed to impress the critics by gaining only 17 percent on Rotten Tomatoes but a B+ on CinemaScore.

Editors' Pick

"I would have liked more people to go see ours, but I certainly wouldn't call it a flop either," said Nick Carpou, Universal's president of domestic distribution. "The final chapter of this one has not been written, but with a B+ CinemaScore and the audience appeal that it has, I think there's a chance we're going to play out a bit better than that word (flop) would indicate."

At the third place, "Barbershop: The Next Cut" adds an estimated $10.8 million in its second weekend in theaters. "Zootopia" and "The Boss" took the fourth and fifth place with approximately $6.6 million and $6.1 million, respectively.