The movie – Jungle Cruise completed its first voyage with $34.2 million in theatrical ticket sales and another $30 million on Disney Plus, leading the competition in North America.
The Disney film, starring Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson, debuted slightly ahead of expectations despite concerns the Delta variant would keep family crowds at home.
For a movie that cost $200 million to produce, as “Jungle Cruise” did, its $34 million domestic box office opening weekend would traditionally be a major disappointment. But the pandemic has upended the movie theater business, scrambling the rubric for success as the industry mounts a recovery.
On Monday, that haul seems almost respectable, though it doesn’t mean “Jungle Cruise” will be profitable, at least not in its theatrical iteration. A film with that price tag would traditionally have to generate at least $500 million globally to break even.
However, Disney is hedging its bets and opening the film simultaneously on Disney Plus, the studio’s subscription streaming service, where it will be made available to subscribers for $30. The studio deployed the same strategy for pandemic era releases like “Cruella” and “Black Widow.”
Disney reported on Sunday that “Jungle Cruise” earned $30 million globally on Disney Plus Premier Access, which is half of what “Black Widow” made in surcharge revenue.
At the international box office, “Jungle Cruise” brought in a lackluster $27.6 million from 47 overseas territories, buoying its worldwide box office haul to $61.8 million.
Jaume Collet-Serra directed the family friendly movie, which is based on the Disney theme park ride and co-stars Jesse Plemons, Edgar Ramirez, Jack Whitehall and Paul Giamatti. Set in the early 20th century around the first world war, “Jungle Cruise” follows a morally dubious riverboat captain (Johnson) who takes an intrepid British scientist (Blunt) and her brother (Whitehall) on a mission to find the Tree of Life, which is believed to possess healing powers.
