Weekend Box Office (August 9 - 11, 2019)
THIS WEEKEND Despite a big franchise drop, Hobbs and Shaw was still strong enough to top all other options to retain the number one spot in its sophomore outing. The Fast and Furious spinoff fell 58% to an estimated $25.4M, a reasonable fall for an action sequel. Universal has banked $108.5M to date with Dwayne Johnson scoring the 14th $100M+ hit of his career. With $224.1M from overseas markets, the global take is now $332.6M with key markets Korea and China coming in the next two weeks.
The new PG-13 fright film Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark overperformed in its opening weekend and landed at number two for the weekend with an estimated $20.8M from 3,135 theaters for a solid average of $6,635 - the best in the top ten. Produced by Oscar winner Guillermo del Toro, the film from CBS Films, eOne and Lionsgate earned positive reviews and connected with its target audience.
Still a juggernaut was Disney's The Lion King with an estimated $20M, down 48% in its fourth round, and $473.1M to date on its way to joining the $500M club this month. International markets have added a stellar $861.5M for a global haul of $1.33 billion on its way to over $1.5 billion which will be number nine all-time.
Paramount enjoyed a good opening for its kidpic Dora and the Lost City of Gold with an estimated $17M from 3,735 locations for a moderate $4,552 average. Good reviews and word-of-mouth will help it reach the rest of its built-in fan base over the final weeks of summer before kids go back to school.
If estimates hold, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood will become the fourth $100M+ hit for Quentin Tarantino this weekend. Sony's estimate for the frame is $11.6M, down a decent 42%, for $100.3M overall. This is also the 11th trip into nine digits for DiCaprio and 12th for Pitt.
Opening to weak results this weekend was a pair of new dramas that audiences found little interest in. Fox debuted the dog pic The Art of Racing in the Rain to an estimated $8.1M from 2,765 locations for a mild $2,929 average. Warner Bros. had the crime pic The Kitchen which bowed to an estimated $5.5M from 2,745 sites for a weak $2,007 average. Reviews were not good on either.
Billion dollar titans followed. Sony's Spider-Man: Far From Home dropped only 33% to an estimated $5.3M pushing the domestic gross to $371M. Disney and Pixar saw Toy Story 4 slide 40% to an estimated $4.4M putting the cume at $419.6M. Global tallies are now $1.1 billion and $990M with Woody set to break a billion in the coming week.
Indie sensation The Farewell became the first film of 2019 to top $10M while playing in under 1,000 theaters. The A24 hit expanded from 409 to 704 locations in what has been a brilliantly executed roll-out and grossed an estimated $2.2M. Cume is $10.3M and with more screens to come, a final north of $20M is likely.
The top ten films grossed an estimated $120.3M which was off 5% from last year when The Meg opened at number one with $45.4M; but up 26% from 2017 when Annabelle: Creation debuted on top with $35M.
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Last Updated: August 11, 2019 at 12:10PM ET
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