The Jungle Book review – spectacular revival of Disney's family favourite Read more

Disney’s latest live-action remake, The Jungle Book, scored the second biggest April opening of all time at the US box office this weekend, a tigerish $103.5m (£72.9m).

Starring newcomer Neel Sethi as “man cub” Mowgli and a brigade of spectacular CGI beasts voiced by the likes of Idris Elba (tiger Shere Khan), Bill Murray (Baloo the bear), Ben Kingsley (Bagheera the panther) and Scarlett Johansson (Kaa the python), Jon Favreau’s Kipling-inspired epic has benefited from hugely positive reviews. It currently boasts a 95% “fresh” rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, significantly ahead of even the classic 1967 animated musical (86%). The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw offered praise for a “terrifically enjoyable piece of old-fashioned storytelling and a beautiful-looking film: spectacular, exciting, funny and fun”.



The Jungle Book’s impressive opening beat every Disney live-action remake since 2010’s Alice in Wonderland, the Tim Burton film that began the mouse house’s current programme of reworkings. Worldwide, Favreau’s film boasted a $262m opening weekend, including a strong $50.3m bow in China. The remake opened in India and other territories a week ago, earning $20.1m so far in the birthplace of Rudyard Kipling. In total it has scored $290m worldwide.

Barbershop: The Next Cut review – return of Ice Cube, hair-styling hero Read more

Few studios dared to go up against the might of Disney but the well-reviewed Ice Cube-led sequel Barbershop: The Next Cut made second place on debut with a decent $20.2m bow. The third movie in the series after 2002’s Barbershop and 2004’s Barbershop 2: Back in Business, Malcolm D Lee’s film centres once again on a South Side Chicago hairdressers, this time under threat from trigger-happy gangs who have begun to frequent the area.

“It’s hard not to think of this as the sunnier, more audience-friendly version of [Lee’s cousin Spike’s] midlife masterpiece Chi-Raq,” writes the Guardian’s Jordan Hoffman. “The gimmick of iambic pentameter is missing, but considering the voices of the barbershop work as a built-in Greek chorus, there’s more than enough theatricality.”

The only other new film to make the top 10 this weekend was the action thriller Criminal, starring Kevin Costner as an ex-con implanted with the memories of a dead CIA agent to complete a mission. Ariel Vromen’s film, labelled a “ridiculous and unpleasantly violent thriller” by Bradshaw, scored $5.85m in sixth place.

1. The Jungle Book (2016): $103.5m - NEW

2. Barbershop: The Next Cut: $20.2m - NEW

3. The Boss: $10.1m. Total: $40.3m

4. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: $9m. Total: $311.3m

5. Zootopia: $8.2m. Total: $307.4m

6. Criminal: $5.8m - NEW

7. My Big Fat Greek Wedding: $3.2m. Total: $52m

8. Miracles from Heaven: $1.9m. Total: $56.9m

9. God’s Not Dead 2: $1.7m. Total: $16.9m

10. Eye in the Sky: $1.6m. Total: $13.1m