Monday Update: Disney’s remake repeated at the box office, as Quentin Tarantino’s new release came in second place.

The Lion King fell -60.0% in its sophomore frame, to $76.6M. While still good enough to repeat as the box office “king,” its second-weekend drop was far larger than other Disney remakes this decade: -53.2% for Aladdin, -48.3% for Beauty and the Beast, -46.0% for Alice in Wonderland, or -40.4% for The Jungle Book.

Sony’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood started in the runner-up slot with $41.0M, about in line with pre-release expectations. By pure dollars that’s writer/director Quentin Tarantino’s best opening weekend ever, although adjusted for ticket price inflation it ranks behind 2009’s Inglorious Basterds.

Disney’s Aladdin spent its 10th weekend in the top 10, making it the second film of 2019 to do so after Avengers: Endgame. (Last November’s Green Book reached the same milestone in March.)

A24’s The Farewell rose to the top 10 afiter a theater expansion, coming in 10th place with $1.5M. Look for another likely theater expansion and even higher gross next weekend.

Globally, not one but two movies reached $1 billion globally this weekend: Disney’s Aladdin and Sony’s Spider-Man: Far From Home. Among 2019 releases, they join Avengers: Endgame and Captain Marvel among films to reach the mark. The Lion King at $968.5M looks to join the club later this week, while Disney’s Toy Story 4 at $919.1M might still cross the mark as well.

Comparisons

Total box office this weekend was $162.4M.

That’s -38.4% below last weekend but +3.8% above this same weekend last year, when Mission: Impossible – Fallout led with $61.2M.

Year-to-date box office stands at $6.83B. That’s -6.5% behind this same date last year, up from -7.1% after last weekend.

Some analysts still predict 2019’s box office could ultimately beat 2018’s, on the strength of The Lion King plus a strong upcoming slate of anticipated blockbusters, including Frozen II and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

Monday’s Weekend Actuals (Domestic)

FRI, JUL. 26 – SUN, JUL. 28

Sunday Update: As anticipated, Disney’s The Lion King easily regained the No. 1 spot at the box office this weekend, bringing in an estimated $75.5 million in its sophomore frame for a hefty $350.8 million to date. However, Quentin Tarantino also scored a big win with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which showed some counter-programming muscle in second place.

Down 60% from last weekend’s record $191.7 million haul, The Lion King’s sophomore drop was a bit steeper than expected—which isn’t a big deal considering that it’s already surpassed Aladdin ($343.9 million) to become the third highest-grossing of Disney’s recent crop of cinematic reimaginings after just ten days of release (it will also surpass The Jungle Book‘s $364 million later this week). The champ for now remains Beauty & the Beast, which dipped just 48% in its second weekend on its way to a lifetime total of $504 million.

Speaking of champs, Sony’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood cut through the deluge of PG and PG-13 family releases currently dominating the summer box office to debut with an impressive $40.3 million in second place. Launching on 3,659 screens—Tarantino’s widest opening ever—Once Upon a Time managed to top Inglourious Basterds’ $38 million opening to become the director’s largest debut of all time (in fairness, Basterds also opened on around 500 fewer screens).

Once Upon a Time benefitted from strong reviews (it’s currently at 85% on Rotten Tomatoes) and hype surrounding the movie’s bold-faced cast—among them the powerhouse trio of Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, who were heavily featured in Sony’s marketing campaign. But Tarantino was also undeniably a major factor in the film opening as high as it did. Over the last two-and-a-half decades the director has become a brand name unto himself, and he holds particularly strong appeal with young males, who dominated pre-sales for the film. 

In third place, Spider-Man: Far From Home brought in an estimated $12.2 million in its fourth weekend of release, bringing the total for the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) installment to $344.4 million domestically and $1.03 billion worldwide. The sequel has now surpassed both Spider-Man: Homecoming ($334.2 million) and Spider-Man 3 ($336.5 million) to become the third highest-grossing Spider-Man release to date not adjusting for inflation. With its leapfrog over Homecoming, it’s now also the tenth highest-grossing MCU title of all time.

Toy Story 4 finished in fourth with an estimated $9.8 million in its sixth weekend of release, bringing the Pixar blockbuster to $395.6 million to date. The latest installment in the long-running animated franchise, which is currently the third highest-grossing title of 2019 domestically, is quickly creeping up on previous entry Toy Story 3, which brought in $415 million in 2010. 

Paramount’s Crawl came in fifth in its third weekend with an estimated $4 million, giving the alligator-horror film $31.4 million to date. That’s a decent result for the $13.5 million-budgeted title, which will finish its run a bit lower than the shark thriller 47 Meters Down ($44.3 million) from the summer of 2017.

In sixth place, the Beatles-driven musical rom-com Yesterday grossed $3 million in its fifth weekend of release, bringing the total for the leggy Universal title to $63.3 million. 

Aladdin, which just crossed the $1 billion mark worldwide, came in seventh with an estimated $2.7 million, giving the Disney remake $345.9 million through the end of its tenth weekend.

In eighth, Stuber continued to fade off quickly with an estimated $1.67 million in its third weekend, bringing the total for the Fox title (released by Disney) to just $20.1 million.

Ninth place went to Warner Bros.’ Annabelle Comes Home, which brought in an estimated $1.56 million to bring its total to $69.7 million through the end of its fifth weekend.

A24’s critically-acclaimed The Farewell expanded to 135 screens this weekend and crept into tenth place with an estimated $1.55 million, giving the Lulu Wang-directed dramedy a very good per-screen average of $11,510. The film goes wide next Friday.

Overseas Update:

The Lion King brought in an estimated $142.8 million overseas this weekend, bringing its international total to a fantastic $611.9 million and its worldwide cume to a massive $962.7 million, making it the fifth-highest-grossing title globally this year. Country totals include $114.8 million in China, $45.1 million in the U.K. and $42.1 million in Brazil. The Disney release is set to cross the $1 billion mark this week.

As previously mentioned, Spider-Man: Far From Home crossed the $1 billion mark this weekend after banking another estimated $21 million overseas. The film is currently Sony’s second-highest-grossing release of all time worldwide, having now surpassed 2017’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle ($963.2 million). International totals include $204.7 million in China, $58 million in South Korea and $38.2 million in the U.K.

With an estimated $19.4 million internationally this weekend, Toy Story 4‘s overseas tally now stands at $522.3 million while its global cume is an outstanding $917.9 million.

Having crossed the $1 billion mark on Friday, Aladdin finished the weekend with an estimated $7.2 million internationally, bringing its overseas total to $663.8 million and its worldwide tally to $1.0097 billion. That total includes an impressive $101.3 million in Japan, the top overseas market for the Disney release.

Sunday’s Studio Weekend Estimates (Domestic)

FRI, JUL. 26 – SUN, JUL. 28