Sony has found themselves a massive hit withJumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. The movie spent its first couple of weekends trailingThe Last Jedi, but it’s won two straight weeks at the box office and has crossed a pretty surprising milestone.Jumanjhas officially passedJustice Leagueat the global box office. That’s surprising for an array of reasons, but it, if anything, proves just how reliable The Rock has become in terms of delivering a hit.
With theMLK weekend box officeadded in,Jumanji: Welcome to the Junglehas brought in a grand total of $674.5 million worldwide. That’s already a sizable amount more than Warner Bros.‘Justice League, which made $654.4 million worldwide during its run. This both indicates how much of a surprise hit theJumanjisequel has been and how much of a disappointmentJustice Leaguewas. Especially considering how wellWonder Womandid financially and critically. The future ofJumanjinow seems very bright and the future of live-action DC movies is rather uncertain.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Junglewasexpected to do well for Sony. The movie has big stars like Jack Black, Kevin Hart and, most notably, Dwayne Johnson. But the fact that it’s going to cross the $700 million mark is better than almost anyone could have possibly predicted. With that in mind, it’s almost a guarantee that the studio will attempt to make a third movie in the franchise. They’ve yet to make any kind of announcement, but don’t be surprised to hear one in the coming weeks. Or maybe even days. Sony needs franchises and it looks like they’ve found one.
As forJustice League, the movie faced aton of trouble during production, with Joss Whedon taking over theexpensive and extensive reshootsfor director Zack Snyder. All told, the movie was said to cost Warner Bros. $300 million. Before marketing. That makes the $654.4 million total all the more disappointing. Surprisingly,Justice Leagueis actually the lowest-grossing DCEU movie to date, earning even less thanMan of Steel, which brought in $668 million in 2013. Warner Bros. is still going to make live-action DC movies, but the disappointment has caused a lot of major shifts in regards to how the studio is handling the DC Films division moving forward.
The original 1995Jumanjimade $262.7 million, which is just a fraction of what the sequel has made, but nostalgia has helped make the sequel such a huge hit. Just to point out how well the movie has done, when compared to something likeJustice League,Jumanji: Welcome to the Junglehad a production budget of just $90 million, according toBox Office Mojo. That means Sony is going to turn a healthy profit, whereas Warner Bros. is going to be lucky to break even at this point. The lesson here? Never underestimate The Rock.
