Disney's 'Jungle Cruise' Tops Weekend US Box Office At $34.1 Million

The Walt Disney Company’s DIS “Jungle Cruise” reigned at the weekend U.S. box office with $34.1 million in ticket sales from a 4,310-screen engagement.

What Happened: Inspired by the popular ride at the Disney theme parks, “Jungle Cruise” starred Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt in an action-adventure flick that also had a simultaneous premiere on the Disney+ streaming service. Disney reported approximately $30 million in global fees for the streaming release, which charged Disney+ subscribers $30 to watch the film at home.

Another new film, “The Green Knight” from A24, secured a second place ranking at the weekend box office with $6.78 million from 2,790 screens. Starring Dev Patel and Alicia Vikander, “The Green Knight” opened in a theatrical-exclusive engagement.

Last weekend’s top-grossing film, M. Night Shyamalan’s Old from Comcast Corporation's CMCSA Universal Pictures, grossed approximately $6.76 million, down 60% from its $16.8 million opening weekend.

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What Else Happened: Disney’s “Black Widow” and the Matt Damon drama “Stillwater” took the fourth and fifth rankings with $6.43 million and $5.12 million, respectively.

Both of these films have been mired in controversy – “Black Widow” star Scarlett Johansson has sued the studio for breach of contract for running a simultaneous streaming release that she claimed undercut her theatrical release-based salary structure while “Stillwater” was harshly criticized by Amanda Knox, who claimed the film ripped off the story of her wrongful murder conviction while she was an exchange student in Italy and gave the erroneous impression that she was guilty of the crime for which she was ultimately exonerated.

“Stillwater,” from Comcast’s Focus Features, also had its theatrical premiere over the weekend on 2,531 screens, making it the weakest performer of the three major releases that arrived in theaters on July 30.

Two feature films will be going into wide theatrical release for the weekend starting Aug. 6: Warner Bros.’ “The Suicide Squad,” a new cinematic romp based on the DC Comics franchise starring Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena, Viola Davis and Pete Davidson, and “6:45,” a horror film riff on the “Groundhog Day” theme of a single day repeated endlessly, which will be presented exclusively through the Regal Cinemas theater chain.

Photo: Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt in "Jungle Cruise," courtesy of Disney.