‘Hobbs & Shaw’ outraces a slew of newcomers

‘Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark’ takes 2nd place with $20.8M

LOS ANGELES — Audiences helped the “Fast & Furious” spinoff “Hobbs & Shaw” take another lap at No. 1 this weekend.

August can be a great opportunity for non-superhero films. But this weekend, “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” fared better than others, like the Melissa McCarthy and Tiffany Haddish mob thriller “The Kitchen.”

“Hobbs & Shaw,” the Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham action flick, fell 58% from its first weekend but added $25.4 million from North American theaters. Its gross is now $108.5 million domestically, $332.6 million worldwide.

Second place went to the PG-13 film “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,” with a better than expected $20.8 million. The Guillermo del Toro-produced horror had been tracking to open in the mid-teens.

Good reviews helped raise its profile, but audiences were more underwhelmed after the fact, giving it a C on CinemaScore.

In third was “The Lion King” with $20 million in its fifth weekend in theaters. With $1.3 billion globally, it has surpassed “Beauty and the Beast” as Disney’s highest-grossing “live-action” release.

Newcomer “Dora and the Lost City of Gold,” earned an estimated $17 million for a fourth place start. Starring Isabela Moner, “Dora,” based on the popular television series, also got good reviews from critics and audiences, who gave it an A CinemaScore.

In fifth place, Quentin Tarantino’s star-vehicle “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” added $11.6 million and crossed the $100 million mark.

The dog owner tearjerker “The Art of Racing in the Rain,” with Milo Ventimiglia, opened in sixth place with $8.1 million.

And the 1970s-set McCarthy and Haddish crime thriller “The Kitchen,” based on an obscure Vertigo comic, flopped in seventh with only $5.5 million. The film has a 20% Rotten Tomatoes rating, and audiences largely stayed away.