“Hobbs and Shaw” continues to lead the way as it clinged onto top-spot of the weekend box-office, much like its star Dwayne-Johnson clung onto that helicopter during one of the films main set pieces.
With a 51% drop and a domestic total of $25.4M and an international haul of $60.8M, which included debuts in the likes of Italy and France, the ninth film in the ‘Fast and Furious’ franchise now sits at a healthy $332M worldwide. And Universal will wait eagerly as the film still has to open in China, a market in which the films eighth entry ‘The Fate of the Furious’ raked in over $350M.
Leading the chasing pack was a newcomer in the shape of Lionsgate’s Guillermo Del Toro produced, “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,” which delivered around $20.8M off a relatively modest $25M production budget.
In the weekly Disney news, they still maintained their place in the top three as “The Lion King” dug its claws into the third spot, with $20M domestic and $9.3M in new territory Japan, moving it past the likes of “Frozen” and “Beauty and the Beast” in its total box-office, now standing at $1.334B.
Much like Lionsgate, paramount also saw a decent newcomer this week, in the shape of their live-action Dora the Explorer feature, “Dora: and The Lost City of Gold,” which bowed to the tone of $17M domestic and $2.5M worldwide. Whilst Sony and Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood’ saw a healthy $11.6M take in its third week of release, which took its domestic total past the $100M mark, making it the first film of the summer not based of pre-existing material to do so. Expect a boost in the coming week for Sony’s prize picture as it opens across the world from August 14-26.
Elsewhere, Fox’s canine led, Milo Ventimiglia starring “The Art Of Racing In The Rain” opened in over 2500 theatres to the sound of $8.1M, whilst Warner-Bros comedy, thriller, “The Kitchen,” boasting the star power of Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, and Elizabeth Moss, would have hoped to have done miles better than just $5.5M.
This week also saw a Korean battle to round out the top ten, as ‘BTS: The Movie’ (a doc on the K-Pop group) beat out A24’s Lulu Wang’s overachieving ‘The Farewell’, and Bleecker’s Brian Banks clocked in with $2.1 M from just over 1000 locations.
Next week sees Sony’s animated “Angry Birds” sequel sling into over 3000 locations, whilst supporting arrivals of Entertainment Studios “47 metres Down: Uncaged,” UAR’s ‘“Where’d You Go Bernadette” and ‘Blinded By the Light’ are joined by Universal’s “Good Boys’”
1. Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw – $25.4M ($108.5M Overall)
2. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark – $21M (Debut)
3. The Lion King – $20M ($473M)
4. Dora and the Lost City of Gold – $17M (Debut)
5. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – $11.6M ($100M)
6. The Art of Racing in the Rain – $8.1M (Debut)
7. The Kitchen – $5.5M (Debut)
8. Spider-Man: Far From Home – $5.3M ($371M)
9. Toy Story 4 – $4.4M ($420M)
10. Bring the Soul: The Movie – $2.3M ($4.4M)
The ‘Smile’ franchise has a new director. David Bruckner, who made “The Night House” and the 2022 “Hellraiser” reboot, has been hired to direct “Smile 3” for Paramount.