Can '12 Strong' Conquer 'Jumanji'?
by EG
Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle is looking to take the top spot at the box office for a third weekend in a row this week, but it has competition. The challenger is 12 Strong, a war movie about American special forces in Afghanistan just after 9/11. Americans like their patriotic war movies, but there still might be quite a few families out there who will choose the less violent Jumanji over the flag-waving combat film.
As the family-friendly fantasy film Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle attempts to hang on to the top spot at the domestic box office for the third weekend in a row, it is facing off against a challenge from 12 Strong, which follows a Special Forces team into battle in Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11. Both films could take in about $15 million or more before the dust settles.
So far, Sony’s Jumanji has proven to be unexpectedly resilient. In both its third and fourth weekends it fell by just 25 percent during each frame. The fall-off is expected to be somewhat steeper this weekend. But the film, which has already collected more than $678 million worldwide, will be crossing the $300 million domestically, becoming only one of eight 2017 releases to hit that mark.
As it enters its fifth wekend, Jumanji won’t be competing head-to-head for the same audience as the R-rated, Warners release 12 Strong, a flag-waving, true-life war movie, written by Ted Tally and Peter Craig from Doug Stanton’s non-fiction book Horse Soldiers about the early days in the campaign against the Taliban. Chris Hemsworth heads the manly cast that also includes Michael Shannon, Michael Pena, William Fichtner and Travante Rhodes. Danish filmmaker Nicolai Fuglsig directs the $35-million Alcon Entertainment, Black Label Media and Jerry Bruckheimer Films production, which was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, Molly Smith, Thad Luckinbill and Trent Luckinbill, and which is heading in 3,002 theaters.
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.
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