'The Jungle Book' is King of the Box Office With Massive Opening Weekend Gross

  

     Disney's new movie of The Jungle Book has moved to the top spot of the box office this weekend. The film, which mixes live-action with cutting-edge 3D animation, has scored the second highest ever April opening, pulling in a massive $103.6 million. The weekend gross goes beyond estimated figures, which, as Collider notes, had the film topping out at a maximum of $85 million. The movie is now second only to Furious 7 in terms of an April opening. Worldwide, it has to date made $290.9 million.

   The film, which is directed by Iron Man's Jon Favreau and is based on the classic stories of Rudyard Kipling, has been backed by extremely strong reviews and much acclaim for its use of 3D and CGI. The all-star voice cast includes Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong'o, Scarlett Johansson, and Christopher Walken, plus newcomer Neel Sethi as Mowgli.

   
    The Jungle Book is the latest classic fairy tale that Disney has retooled for modern audiences. Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland earned more than $1 billion in 2010, and a sequel is due in cinemas next month. Further down the line, Beauty and the Beast, starring Emma Watson, is set for release in March 2017.