The Jungle Book Flies to the Top of Box Office

Newcomer Neel Sethi plays Mowgli


Disney's remake of The Jungle Book has trounced the competition at the US box office, taking $103.6m (£73m) in its first weekend.

The live-action movie brings to life Rudyard Kipling's characters, including Mowgli who is raised by animals.

Director Jon Favreau's film stars newcomer Neel Sethi as Mowgli with Hollywood heavyweights Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley and Idris Elba providing the voices of Baloo, Bagheera and Shere Khan.

It was the third biggest debut of the year, after Batman V Superman ($166m) and Deadpool ($132m).

Barbershop: The Next Cut, the latest installment in the comedy franchise, was a distant second in its debut with $20.2m, according to estimates from industry tracker Exhibitor Relations.

Jungle Book Roars Back To Life

Featuring Ice Cube and Cedric the Entertainer, the movie centres around the personalities in a barbershop who try to stop the violence plaguing their south Chicago neighbourhood.

Slapstick comedy The Boss slipped to third place after its second week in cinemas, taking $10.2m over the weekend, lifting its total domestic take to $40.4m.

Starring Melissa McCarthy, The Boss tells of a billionaire who emerges penniless from a spell in jail for insider trading and is forced to move in with a former employee.

culled from Sky News