Hobbs & Shaw’s 58% drop is one of the lowest in the history of the Fast and Furious franchise, but since the film’s debut was also well below previous F&F movies, it really doesn’t mean that much. In fact it is clear that the Fast and Furious franchise appears to be losing steam here in North America with each installment declining from F&F 6’s $238 million in 2013 to Fate of the Furious’ $226 million in 2017, to a likely well under $200 million finish for Hobbs & Shaw, which has a 10-day total of $108.5 million.
Still Universal isn’t too worried about Hobbs & Shaw, which has already earned twice as much overseas as it has here—and done so without the Chinese market where the franchise is enormously popular and where Hobbs & Shaw won’t open until August 23. With a production cost of $200 million, Hobbs and Shaw will have to double its current global total of $322 million just to get into the black (Hollywood’s share of overseas box office revenue is lower than what it gets from the domestic market, and in the case of China just half as much).
Second place went to the PG-13 adaptation of the kids’ horror anthology, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, which earned $20.8 million. This was more than most analysts had forecast, and reflects the strong reviews that the Guillermo Del Toro-produced horror film received (80% positive on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes).
Scary Stories attracted a crowd that skewed female (57%) and younger with 46% under 25. Opening weekend audiences gave the film a "C" CinemaScore, which would be the kiss of death for films in most genres, but not necessarily so for a horror movie. The good news for Scary Stories is that it will face little direct horror competition until It Chapter 2 opens in a month.
Jon Favreau’s remake of The Lion King dropped just 48% in its fourth weekend in theaters, earning $20 million and driving its domestic total to $473.1 million. Of course The Lion King has done even better overseas where it has earned $861.5 million (and only about $120 million of that from China) for a global total of $1.334, which makes it either Disney’s highest-grossing live-action "reimagining" ever, or the highest grossing animated film ever (since it topped Frozen’s $1.276 billion), depending on how one classifies the photo-realistic animated film.
The live-action adaptation of Nickelodeon’s Dora the Explorer, Dora and the Lost City of Gold debuted with $17 million, which is a bit lower than expected. However the film earned an "A" CinemaScore from audiences that skewed female (57%) and younger (50% under 25). Hispanics made up 40% of the opening weekend crowds, followed by Caucasians (37%), Asian/Other (12%), and African-Americans (11%).
Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood held on well in its third weekend, dropping 42% as it earned $11.6 million to drive its domestic total to $100.3 million.
The dog-friendly The Art of Racing in the Rain opened a bit disappointingly with just $8.1 million. While these summer "canine" films tend to have "legs," poor reviews for The Art of Racing in the Rain (just 46% positive on RT), could well have a dampening effect on the film’s box office longevity.
The good news for The Art of Racing in the Rain is the fact that it received a solid "A-" CinemaScore from opening weekend audiences, which skewed female (62%) and older (59% over 25). Earlier this week Disney CEO Bob Iger declared that the films (like Racing in the Rain) that Disney inherited from Fox lost $170 million in the third quarter, and signaled that Disney would not continue to greenlight similar projects, confirming the worst fears of critics of the Fox acquisition, who maintained that the straight-laced and buttoned-up Mouse House would refuse to take the chances on unproven concepts that Fox had.
Andrea Berloff’s adaptation of the Ollie Masters/Ming Doyle Vertigo comic book series, The Kitchen, bombed, earning just $5.5 million. While reviews don’t matter all that much in some genres, when you are making an adult period drama like The Kitchen, having just a 20% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes is pretty much the kiss of death.
Meanwhile Spider-Man: Far From Home dropped just 33% in its sixth weekend of release, earning $5.3 million to drive its domestic total to $371 million. Sometime in the next few weeks Far From Home will pass Skyfall to become Sony’s highest grossing film of all time (not adjusting for inflation).
Pixar’s Toy Story 4 has displayed even more "legs," earning $4.4 million in its eighth weekend in theaters to drive its domestic total to $419.6 million.
Debuting in tenth place despite being in just 873 theaters was the documentary about the South Korean boy band BTS, Bring the Soul: The Movie, while the biopic about football player Brian Banks earned over $2 million from 1240 theaters and finished at #12.
Keep an eye on the Downs syndrome drama The Peanut Butter Falcon, which opened in 17 theaters earning $205, 236 and expands to 800 theaters next week.
Be sure to check back here next weekend for it will be another "shotgun" weekend with all sorts of cinematic pellets heading for the screen next weekend including the animated Angry Birds Movie 2, which debuts in 3,500 venues on Tuesday, followed by a weekend contingent including 47 Meters Down: Uncaged, the sequel to last year’s stealth action/survival hit, the R-rated comedy Good Boys, the family drama Where’d You Go Bernadette?, and the coming of age drama Blinded By the Light.
