August 2-4: "Hobbs & Shaw", "The Lion King", "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"
“Hobbs & Shaw” Drives to 60.8M Opening
By: Keaton Marcus
Diving into the weekend, the Fast & Furious spin-off Hobbs & Shaw delivered another #1 finish for the franchise, and punched up some impressive international numbers despite slightly underperforming compared to pre-weekend expectations domestically. The weekend was also bolstered by the continuing successes of holdovers such as The Lion King and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood which both dropped reasonable amounts. Rounding out the top five were Spider-Man: Far from Home and Toy Story 4 which continued their massive domestic and international victories.
Mentioned before, Universal’s release of Fast & Furious’ second spin-off Hobbs & Shaw earned an estimated 60.8M in North American ticket sales, from approximately 4,253 locations across the states, averaging $14,296 per-screen. The film debuted on the lower end of expectations, which were originally 60-70M, but the solid opening has delivered another success for the multi-billion grossing, nine-chapter franchise. The picture trumped last year’s The Meg (45.4M), which was the lowest of comps, and otherwise, it barely managed to top Jason Bourne, which earned 59.2M back in 2016. Disappointingly, the 200M production missed Mission: Impossible - Fallout which shot up 61.2M last year from nearly 4,400 locations nationwide. The Fate of the Furious opened with over 98M, before finishing with 226M, securing a 2.29x multiplier, which would mean a 137M finish. However, with a franchise average multiplier of 2.4x, we could be talking a domestic ending nearing 146M—but with the better audience appeal, we’re looking at a possible finish of 160M.
Internationally, the film earned an estimated 120M from 63 material markets, resulting in an official global debut of 180.8M, which is extremely impressive considering 52 of those markets were number one openings. The picture’s biggest market was Russia, which lead the way with an estimated 8.1M, followed by the UK (7.8M), Indonesia (7.7M), India (7.4M), Mexico (7M), Japan (6.6M), Taiwan (6.2M), Germany (5.5M), Australia (4.9M), Malaysia (4.7M), and Brazil (3.9M). Upcoming releases include Belgium, France, and Italy later this week, while it will open in Korea August 14th, and an extremely anticipated debut in China on August 23rd.
Review wise, Hobbs & Shaw had certain successes with the critics, while the big bang of excellence was really with the opening day audiences. On Sweet and Sour Movies, the action picture churned a solid 68/100 “sweet/sour” on the Lemonradar, we praised the performances, action sequences, and the entertainment value—while we noted the ludicrous plotting, and the slightly long running-time. RottenTomatoes handed the film a positive 67% “Fresh”, while other review aggregator Metacritic scored the motion picture 60/100. Audiences were much less skeptical, giving an extremely high 90% on RottenTomatoes, along with an A- CinemaScore, making way for a possible long domestic run.
Runner-up held Disney’s The Lion King which delivered a third weekend of 38.2M, sliding a relatively quiet 50.1% compared to last weekend’s 60% dip. The film has now topped 400M domestically, rounding to 430.8M heading into it’s third week of release. The divisive picture is tracking around 37 million ahead of Beauty and the Beast, resulting in a hopefully Disney live-action domestic best, with us tracking the reboot for around 550M for the finish. Internationally, the children’s film added another 72 million, resulting in a foreign total of 764.9M, and a massive global gross of 1.195B. The film is headed to Japan next weekend, and Italy August 21st.
In third place was Sony’s release of Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which made an estimated 20M in its sophomore session, dipping 51.3% from it’s record debut for a domestic total that tallies 78.8M heading into its second week of release. For the finish, the film’s 10 day total almost mirrors Godzilla: King of the Monsters, which tallied 78.5M with 10 days, and has earned just over 110M domestically, which opens a possible 115-120M finish.
Sony managed to also take fourth place with Marvel’s Spider-Man: Far from Home, which earned another 7.7M this weekend, resulting in a domestic total of 360.3M. Internationally, the well-reviewed superhero film added another 9.5M overseas, resulting in a foreign gross of 715M and a worldwide total of 1.075B, ranking ninth in the MCU.
Rounding out the top five was Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story 4, which grossed an estimated 7.1M, sliding another minimal 31.6% for a North American total topping 410M. Overseas, the animated picture delivered 10.2M for a foreign gross of 549.2M, and a global total of 959.2M.
Next weekend, we see a crowded palate of releases, with a massive five nationwide films ready to carve up the charts. Paramount’s Dora and the Lost City of Gold is debuting in an estimated 3,500 locations, and could open with 20M. Additionally, Lionsgate’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark is being released into 3,000 theaters, while The Art of Racing in the Rain will open in 2,800 locations, The Kitchen in 2,700+, and finally, Brian Banks will debut in a more moderate 1,500 theaters.
TOP FIVE:
Hobbs & Shaw
The Lion King (2019)
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Spider-Man: Far from Home
Toy Story 4