Universal is off to a good start with their “Fast & Furious” spinoff “Hobbs & Shaw,” which grossed $23.7 million from 4,253 screens on Friday and is now on course to meet pre-release projections of a $60 million opening weekend.
While that’s a sizable step down from the $94 million opening earned by the last “F&F” movie “The Fate of the Furious,” it is consistent with the latest installment of another action franchise, “Mission: Impossible — Fallout.” Paramount released that Tom Cruise film in a similar late summer release slot last year and opened to $61 million, going on to gross $220 million domestic and $791 million globally against a $180 million production budget.
“Hobbs & Shaw,” which has a reported $200 million production budget, could follow the same trajectory as “Fallout,” but will need help from overseas. They are getting it so far with an estimated $120 million overseas gross this weekend and a No. 1 opening expected in 53 markets.
That would give “Hobbs & Shaw” a global opening of $180 million, which would be the largest opening outside the main “Fast & Furious” series for lead stars Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham.
Part of the reason why “Hobbs & Shaw” is opening lower than “Fate of the Furious” is that it is facing stiff competition for the 18-35 male demographic: Sony’s “Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood.” The Tarantino film is getting the hold that Sony was hoping for after its $41 million opening, currently projected for a $19-20 million second weekend total and a 51% drop.
That would give “Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood” a 10-day total of $78.5 million, having already passed the disappointing $54 million domestic run of Tarantino’s last film, “The Hateful Eight.”
While Universal and Tarantino have carved out success, Disney and Marvel continue their box office domination as they fill out the rest of this weekend’s top 5. “The Lion King” sits at No. 2 this weekend in between “Hobbs and Shaw” and “Once Upon a Time,” earning an estimated $37 million in its third weekend to push its domestic total past $400 million.
“Spider-Man: Far From Home” and “Toy Story 4” will complete the top five, with “Far From Home” estimated for an $8 million weekend and “Toy Story 4” estimated for $7 million.