1. Hobbs & Shaw– $25.4M/$108.5M
Fast & Furious spinoff Hobbs & Shaw held on to the top spot in the face of some heavy competition, a far cry from last week when it faced practically none. The $25M earned this week is a drop of about 58%, the best second-week hold the franchise has had since The Fast and the Furious in 2001. Worldwide the numbers are decent with $332.6M total, minus China which doesn’t get the film for another few days. It’s going to need a big turnout there to overcome a $200M budget.
2. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark (review)- $20.8M
I don’t know whether to be surprised over the $20M debut of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark or not. I expected Dora to fare much better than it did, being a family film, but horror nearly always has a strong first weekend. The spooky series of books by Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gammell were tapped into, and the promos made sure to feature many of the familiar creatures for those looking for some nostalgia. It also didn’t hurt to have Guillermo Del Toro on board as a producer, his name featured prominently, as well. I don’t expect it to stick around a long time, and may eventually get surpassed by Dora, but then it doesn’t need to with a budget of $28M.
3. The Lion King– $20M/$473.1M
4. Dora and the Lost City of Gold (review)- $17M
It was a disappointing $17M start for Dora and the Lost City of Gold, a live-action adventure based on the popular Nickelodeon educational series. The film stars Isabela Moner, Michael Pena, Eva Longoria, and Mexican superstar Eugenio Derbez, but despite good reviews it never quite caught on. Now, that could be a product of so much competition this week. That’s certainly where I’m coming down on this, and expect it will leg it out to a decent domestic run. With a budget of $49M it’s going to need to hang around a while, anyway.
5. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood– $11.6M/$100.3M
6. The Art of Racing in the Rain– $8.1M
Disney and Fox’s latest canine drama The Art of Racing in the Rain opened with $8M, which I guess isn’t bad for the $20M film which stars Milo Ventimiglia, Amanda Seyfried, and Kevin Costner as the titular dog’s voice. It centers on a race car driver and his loyal pet who has the need for speed just like his owner but make no mistake, it eventually becomes a tear-jerker like most of these movies do. The most that can be said about this is that it’s one of the Fox properties Disney decided to roll with. We recently learned there won’t be too many new ones, as the focus will lean on existing properties with name value. So I wouldn’t expect The Art of Racing in the Rain 2 or anything.
7. The Kitchen (review)- $5.5M
Another of Melissa McCarthy’s female-driven films has faceplanted at the box office. The Kitchen, a mob drama led by McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, and Elisabeth Moss, opened to just $5.5M. That’s incredible given the star power and the subject matter, or are we just sitting around waiting for Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman for our mafia fix? I shouldn’t be surprised by this, though. The reviews weren’t good, with mine being one of the few positive ones. But I thought, or hoped, that curiosity would carry it through. Sadly, like McCarthy’s Ghostbusters movie in 2016, reviews played a big part in driving down interest.
8. Spider-Man: Far from Home– $5.3M/$370.9M
9. Toy Story 4– $4.4M/$419.5M
10. Bring the Soul: The Movie– $2.2M/$4.4M
