Box office: Winter but no Christmas for The Huntsman, and Zootopia becomes the 8th-biggest animated film worldwide

There was good news and bad news for Chris Hemsworth this week.

The good news is, The Huntsman: Winter’s War grossed an estimated $20.1 million between Thursday and Sunday nights, which marks his second-best debut as a leading man outside of the Thor franchise (and its Avengers tie-ins).

The bad news is, it’s barely more than a third of the $56.2 million that the previous film in the series, Snow White and the Huntsman, opened to in 2012.

Outside of the Marvel movies, Hemsworth has not had much luck at the box office.

His last three leading-man movies — Rush (total domestic gross: $26.9 million), Blackhat ($8 million) and In the Heart of the Sea ($25 million) — were all flops to one degree or another. Even the one comedy he had a small part in, Vacation ($58.9 million), was an underperformer, though it cost less to make than the others.

Hemsworth’s only bona fide non-superhero hit since Thor catapulted him to stardom was the first Huntsman movie. But that film also starred Kristen Stewart as Snow White, at a time when Stewart was between hugely popular Twilight sequels.

Stewart is not part of the new film, and her character is kept entirely offscreen (except for one shot in which Snow White is briefly glimpsed from behind). So the film now rests more squarely on Hemsworth’s shoulders, though it also features highly-touted supporting turns from Jessica Chastain (as a female “huntsman”) and Emily Blunt (as Charlize Theron’s arguably-less-wicked but equally supernatural sister).

And even with all that talent, Huntsman’s first weekend was only so-so. Let’s hope Hemsworth has better luck with the upcoming Ghostbusters reboot (in which he once again takes a supporting role in a comedy, as a secretary to the title characters).

Huntsman has earned another $80.2 million overseas since opening in Singapore three weeks ago. The film’s global total currently stands at $100.3 million.

In other news, Disney had more to smile about this weekend.

The Jungle Book stayed on top of the box office chart and dropped only 41.1% to gross $60.8 million in its second week, for a domestic cume of $191.5 million. The film has earned another $337 million overseas, for a global total of $528.5 million.

And Zootopia grossed $6.6 million in its eighth week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $316.4 million — the second-highest gross of any non-Pixar Disney animated film during its original theatrical release (behind Frozen, 2013, $400.7 million).¹

Zootopia’s weekend haul dropped only 18.8% from last week, and the film actually went up in rank, from fifth place last week to fourth place this week.

The film has earned another $590.7 million overseas, which makes it the first film this year to gross over $900 million worldwide. ($907.1 million, to be precise.)

The film still ranks tenth among animated films in North America, but overseas it now ranks seventh, and worldwide it now ranks eighth. (See the charts below.)

Also worth noting: this was the first weekend without a “faith-based” film in the top ten since before Risen opened on February 19.

God’s Not Dead 2 grossed $1.13 million and ranked eleventh in its fourth week, for a domestic total of $19 million. It has earned another $1.2 million overseas.

And Miracles from Heaven grossed $1.1 million and ranked 13th in its sixth week, for a domestic total of $58.8 million. It has earned another $5.2 million overseas.

Meanwhile, in other box-office news…

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice grossed $5.5 million and ranked sixth for the weekend. After five weeks in theatres, the film has earned $319.5 million — which is still not yet double the $166 million that the film made in its first weekend.

Batman v Superman has earned another $532.1 million overseas for a worldwide total of $851.6 million — well under the billion-dollar mark the studio was aiming for.

There were no estimates for Risen or The Young Messiah this week.

Now for a bit of extra data on Zootopia’s ranking among animated films:

In North America, the film ranks tenth:

• 2004 — Shrek 2 (DreamWorks) — $441.2 million
• 1994 — The Lion King (Disney) — $422.8 million
• 2010 — Toy Story 3 (Pixar) — $415.0 million
• 2013 — Frozen (Disney) — $400.7 million
• 2003 — Finding Nemo (Pixar) — $380.8 million
• 2013 — Despicable Me 2 (Universal) — $368.1 million
• 2015 — Inside Out (Pixar) — $356.5 million
• 2015 — Minions (Universal) — $336 million
• 2007 — Shrek the Third (DreamWorks) — $322.7 million
• 2016 — Zootopia (Disney) — $316.4 million
• 2009 — Up (Pixar) — $293.0 million
• 2001 — Monsters, Inc. (Pixar) — $289.9 million

Overseas, the film ranks seventh:

• 2013 — Frozen (Disney) — $875.7 million
• 2015 — Minions (Universal) — $823.4 million
• 2012 — Ice Age: Continental Drift (Fox) — $715.9 million
• 2009 — Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (Fox) — $690.1 million
• 2010 — Toy Story 3 (Pixar) — $648.2 million
• 2013 — Despicable Me 2 (Universal) — $602.7 million
• 2016 — Zootopia (Disney) — $590.7 million
• 1994 — The Lion King (Disney) — $564.7 million
• 2003 — Finding Nemo (Pixar) — $555.9 million
• 2012 — Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (DreamWorks) — $530.5 million
• 2010 — Shrek Forever After (DreamWorks) — $513.9 million
• 2011 — Kung Fu Panda 2 (DreamWorks) — $500.4 million

And worldwide, the film ranks eighth:

• 2013 — Frozen (Disney) — $400.7 + 875.7 = 1276.5 million
• 2015 — Minions (Universal) — $336.0 + 823.4 = 1159.4 million
• 2010 — Toy Story 3 (Pixar) — $415.0 + 648.2 = 1063.2 million
• 1994 — The Lion King (Disney) — $422.8 + 564.7 = 987.5 million
• 2013 — Despicable Me 2 (Universal) — $368.1 + 602.7 = 970.8 million
• 2003 — Finding Nemo (Pixar) — $380.8 + 555.9 = 936.7 million
• 2004 — Shrek 2 (DreamWorks) — $441.2 + 478.6 = 919.8 million
• 2016 — Zootopia (Disney) — $316.4 + 590.7 = 907.1 million
• 2009 — Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (Fox) — $196.6 + 690.1 = 886.7 million
• 2012 — Ice Age: Continental Drift (Fox) — $161.3 + 715.9 = 877.2 million
• 2015 — Inside Out (Pixar) — $356.5 + 500.3 = 856.8 million
• 2007 — Shrek the Third (DreamWorks) — $322.7 + 476.2 = 799.0 million

And now for a bit of extra data on the “faith-based” films:

Miracles from Heaven had the fourth-best first weekend of any film in this genre five weeks ago, and now it has the eighth-best sixth weekend:

• 2004 — The Passion of the Christ — $10.6 million
• 2015 — War Room — $2.8 million
• 2014 — God’s Not Dead — $2.8 million
• 2014 — Heaven Is for Real — $2 million
• 2011 — Soul Surfer — $1.8 million
• 2008 — Fireproof — $1.7 million
• 2011 — Courageous — $1.5 million
• 2016 — Miracles from Heaven — $1.1 million
• 2002 — Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie — $1.1 million
• 2016 — Risen — $935,025

Miracles from Heaven still ranks sixth among “faith-based” films domestically:

• 2004 — The Passion of the Christ — $370.8 million
• 2014 — Heaven Is for Real — $91.4 million
• 2015 — War Room — $67.8 million
• 2014 — God’s Not Dead — $60.8 million
• 2014 — Son of God — $59.7 million
• 2016 — Miracles from Heaven — $58.8 million
• 2011 — Soul Surfer — $43.9 million
• 2006 — The Nativity Story — $37.6 million
• 2016 — Risen — $36.7 million
• 2011 — Courageous — $34.5 million

Meanwhile, Risen still ranks eighth among recent Bible-themed films:

• 2004 — The Passion of the Christ — $370.8 million
• 1998 — The Prince of Egypt — $101.4 million
• 2014 — Noah — $101.2 million
• 2014 — Exodus: Gods and Kings — $65 million
• 2014 — Son of God — $59.7 million
• 2009 — Year One — $43.3 million
• 2006 — The Nativity Story — $37.6 million
• 2016 — Risen — $36.7 million
• 1981 — History of the World, Part I — $31.7 million
• 2016 — Hail, Caesar! — $30.1 million
• 2002 — Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie — $25.6 million
• 1979 — Monty Python’s Life of Brian — $20 million
• 1980 — Wholly Moses! — $14.2 million
• 2006 — One Night with the King — $13.4 million
• 1988 — The Last Temptation of Christ — $8.4 million
• 2016 — The Young Messiah — $6.5 million
• 1985 — King David — $5.1 million
• 2003 — The Gospel of John — $4.1 million

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1. The Lion King earned $312.9 million in 1994 and has since increased its total to $422.8 million thanks to an IMAX re-release in 2002 and (especially) a 3D re-release in 2011.