‘Hobbs & Shaw’ leads at the box office
So much for any puns about spinning out.
Universal’s gas-guzzling action spinoff, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, debuted in theaters this weekend to about $60.8 million in domestic ticket sales, easily taking first position as it opened in a period of summer where it is likely to encounter little competition.
The movie stars Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham as an American operative and an English gun-for-hire, roles that became increasingly prominent in the ensembles of the last two Fast and Furious movies.
Hobbs & Shaw made even more money internationally: It brought in an additional $120 million overseas, according to the studio. Combined, that makes for a worldwide weekend take of $180.8 million.
That’s a solid opening with plenty of room for growth. The Fate of the Furious, which is the most recent movie in the main series, opened to about $100 million Fast & domestically in 2017. Those figures didn’t make for great news at the time — that release was the first time in years that a movie in the franchise had opened to slower domestic ticket sales than its predecessor.
But Hobbs & Shaw is different in that spinoffs aren’t expected to do as well as their main series counterparts. (See Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which was considered a success when it opened to tens of millions of dollars less than Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2016.)
Reviews for Hobbs & Shaw have been somewhat solid — it currently holds a 67 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. And ticket buyers gave it an A-minus grade in CinemaScore exit polls.
Finishing at a distant second was Disney’s The Lion King, which has been a smash success for the studio but slowed to about $38.2 million in domestic sales during its third weekend, a roughly 50 percent decrease from its second weekend, according to Comscore, which compiles box office data. Lulu Wang’s acclaimed family drama The Farewell expanded to 409 theaters and grossed a hefty $2.4 million, firmly establishing the A24 release, starring Awkwafina, as one of the year’s indie breakouts.
While there are significant releases to come, Hobbs & Shaw marks the last major tentpole of the summer. The season is running only 1.1 percent behind last year, according to data firm Comscore, a deficit that has been shrunk in large part by Disney’s juggernauts.
“While the summer has kind of taking a drubbing, critically and analytically, it has made a huge comeback,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore. “We need to get it in perspective. But it ain’t over till it’s over.”