Even with five new releases this weekend, the box office was a bit ho-hum with Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw topping the box office chart for the second weekend in a row. Two of our five new releases do have some bragging rights, at least for one weekend.
Hobbs & Shaw maintained the top spot with a gross of $25.2 million. That’s a drop of 57.9% which is pretty steep but it was also to be expected as it seems like moviegoers sampled a little bit of everything this weekend which means all of the attention didn’t fall on Hobbs & Shaw. The film has a domestic tally of $108.3 million to date and internationally the film added another $60.8 million, pushing its overseas total to $224.1 million for a global tally that now tops $332 million as it enters its second week in release. This week saw the film open in five new markets including a $6.9 million launch in France, a $2.6 million debut in Italy and a $1.6 million opening in Belgium. The film has yet to open in Korea or China, the latter of which is set for August 23. The Fast franchise is huge there so expect a big push over there when it opens. The foreign help eases the stress of that $200 million budget and guarantees that the spinoff becomes its own franchise.
Debuting in second is the first of our five new releases. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark opened to $20.9 million over the weekend. The film was actually tracking below this total so we have to call this a win for CBS Films, eOne, and Lionsgate. The source material was the draw here as the cast is full of mostly unknowns and that’s impressive alone since the book came out in 1981. The film did receive a “C” CinemaScore which indicates this film will likely have a quick fall but with a $25 million budget, if it legs it out to $45-50 million, I can see sequel talk starting any day now.
In third, we have The Lion King which grossed $20.2 million. The film has its best hold since opening with a drop of 47.5%. The Lion King now has a domestic total of $473.3 million and internationally the film launched in Japan this weekend with an estimated $9.3 million for a second-place finish. The film’s international gross now totals $861.5 million for a global tally reaching $1.334 billion. This total allows it to top the worldwide gross of the live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast ($1.263 billion) which makes it the highest-grossing live-action Disney update at the worldwide box office.
In fourth, we find the new release of Dora and the Lost City of Gold which grossed an impressive $17.4 million. Fans of Dora The Explorer really came out for this one and it was able to shine despite sharing the kid audience with The Lion King. The film earned an “A” CinemaScore which could bode well for word of mouth. The budget is $49 million for this one but if it can manage a decent run domestically and show some life overseas, I think it’s on its way to becoming a potential franchise. Internationally, Dora debuted in 11 overseas markets this weekend with an estimated $2.5 million. Leading the way was Russia with an estimated $878,000 opening. The film will continue to expand internationally over the next few months ending with a November 7 release in Brazil.
Rounding out the top five is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood which grossed $11.6 million. The film dropped 41.8% but it becomes only the second original film this year so far to cross the $100 million mark (the other being Jordan Peele’s Us). This fact either makes it stand out or just so the side state of the industry when it comes to original ideas and box office performance. Internationally, Once Upon a Time debuted in Russia with an estimated $7.7 million. The release was the film’s first overseas major market debut with openings in France, UK, Australia, Brazil, Germany, and Spain set for next weekend followed by Mexico (Aug 23), Japan (Aug 30), Italy (Sep 18) and South Korea (Sep 26).
The rest of the new releases debut outside of the top five. The first is The Art of Racing in the Rain which placed sixth with $8.1 million. I mentioned in my predictions that the cute dog genre is a bit crowded this year and that’s probably why the film underperformed because it’s a case of too much of what feels like the same thing released relatively close to each other. The good news is that it earned an “A-” CinemaScore but I think the opening is a tad too low for that to really matter.
The Kitchen lands in eighth, grossing a disappointing $5.5 million. With a budget of $38 million, this film is pretty much D.O.A. as it didn’t really connect with audiences. The film was the worst-reviewed film of the new wide releases (22% rotten on Rotten Tomatoes) and moviegoers didn’t like it much either, gracing it with a so-so “B-” CinemaScore. The film will likely be an afterthought by next weekend.
Lastly, we have Brian Banks in eleventh place with $2.1 million. Despite the low opening, this is about where tracking had it so I guess we can say it lived up to expectations.
Check out the full top ten results below:
| Film | Total | % Change | Gross to Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Onward | $10,601,952 | -72.9% | $60.3 |
| Bloodshot | $9,176,695 | NEW | $9.17 |
| I Still Believe | $9,103,614 | NEW | $9.10 |
| The Invisible Man | $5,890,805 | -61.1% | $64.3 |
| The Hunt | $5,304,455 | NEW | $5.3 |
| Sonic the Hedgehog | $2,522,584 | -67.3% | $145.7 |
| The Way Back | $2,356,115 | -71.2% | $13.3 |
| The Call of the Wild | $2,226,720 | -67.1% | $62 |
| Emma. | $1,295,215 | -73% | $9.9 |
| Bad Boys for Life | $1,102,208 | -63.5% | $204.2 |
