Concerns over the fate of a Fast & Furious spinoff were put to rest this weekend when Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw smashed into theaters with a $60 million debut and a number one box office showing.
Universal Pictures had an expensive question mark hanging over its head on Friday when Hobbs & Shaw was preparing for its moment in the spotlight. It was wholly unknown if a pair of characters from the Fast & Furious universe of fast cars and big heists films could succeed.
But the big debut put all that to rest with its $60 million opening here in the U.S. The film also roared into the foreign market with an additional $120 million. So it appears that the flick will at least make back its somewhat exorbitant $200 million production costs over its first run, Variety reported.
Indeed, according to Box Office Mojo, Hobbs & Shaw earnings are very much in line with the debuts of the last few Fast & Furious movies, so the question over the success of a spin-off seems answered, at least when it stars Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham.
Disney’s Lion King maintained it big draw sticking with its second-place spot, making an additional $38 million to bring its total domestic cume to $430 million. It is Disney’s fourth film to make over $400 million in the U.S. market this year alone. Additionally, Lion King has now become the second most successful film of the year in both the domestic and global markets.
Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood continued its strong box office draw, though slipping to third place in its second weekend at theaters. The Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt vehicle drummed up another $20 million in ticket sales for this first weekend in August, and has become Tarantino’s biggest film yet.
Still standing in the top five, Sony’s Spider-Man: Far From Home swung into the fourth spot in the box office race pulling in $7.7 million to boost its domestic haul to $360 million.
Speaking of stubbornly sticking in there, to round out the top five, Disney’s Toy Story 4 earned another $7.2 million, taking it to $410 million in domestic sales.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.
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