Saturday Update: As expected heading into the weekend, Hobbs & Shaw will reign supreme again as it added $7.09 million on Friday, bringing its eight-day domestic cume to $90.2 million. Universal projects a $25 million sophomore frame, while Boxoffice models position it slightly higher at around $25.4 million as of this morning.
Leading the day overall on Friday, though, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark scored a strong $8.76 million opening day (including Thursday previews) as it proves to out-perform pre-release tracking thanks to strong reviews, an under-served horror audience, and a teen-friendly PG-13 rating. Friday’s take well exceeded the $4.85 million first day of Slender Man last August, as well as Crawl‘s $4.35 million opening Friday last month. Lionsgate/CBS project the film will earn around $20.025 million for the weekend, which could give it a shot at the second place position depending on how The Lion King shakes out (which added $5.7 million on Friday).
Dora and the Lost City of Gold posted a $6.5 million opening on Friday. That includes Thursday’s earlier earnings and represents a healthy 5.2x multiple from that evening, and this is likely to be a film with notable matinee play on Saturday and Sunday — especially considering the proximity to the new school year. While this does set the film on course to miss our somewhat bullish pre-release forecasts, it should still top Paramount’s more cautious mid-week expectation of $15 million.
The Art of Racing in the Rain is generally meeting expectations with a $3 million opening day, comparable to A Dog’s Journey ($2.52 million) and A Dog’s Way Home ($3.3 million). Boxoffice projects an $8.9 million weekend.
The Kitchen, unfortunately, is misfiring this weekend with $1.8 million on Friday. For comparison, that’s well behind the $4 million start by The Hustle earlier this summer, Widows‘ $4.2 million last fall, and Happytime Murders‘ $3.9 million last August. Boxoffice projects a $5.1 million opening weekend.
Meanwhile, Brian Banks bowed to $760K from 1,240 locations on Friday as it eyes an opening weekend around $2 million. Based on The Farewell‘s Friday expansion to 704 locations, Banks may be likely to fall outside the top ten by weekend’s end with Farewell projected to earn north of $2 million.
Early Weekend Estimates (Domestic)
FRI, AUG. 9 – SUN, AUG. 11
| # | TITLE | WEEKEND | LOCATIONS | AVG. | TOTAL | WKS. | DIST. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw | $25,400,000 | -58% | 4,344 | 91 | $5,847 | $108,513,780 | 2 | Universal Pictures |
| 2 | Scary Stories to Tell In The Dark | $20,025,000 | — | 3,135 | — | $6,388 | $20,025,000 | 1 | CBS Films / Lionsgate |
| 3 | The Lion King | $20,000,000 | -48% | 4,220 | -582 | $4,739 | $473,103,826 | 4 | Walt Disney Pictures |
| 4 | Dora and the Lost City of Gold | $17,500,000 | — | 3,735 | — | $4,685 | $17,500,000 | 1 | Paramount Pictures |
| 5 | Once Upon a Time In Hollywood | $11,100,000 | -45% | 3,507 | -152 | $3,165 | $99,831,370 | 3 | Sony Pictures |
| 6 | The Art of Racing in the Rain | $8,900,000 | — | 2,765 | — | $3,219 | $8,900,000 | 1 | 20th Century Fox |
| 7 | The Kitchen | $5,100,000 | — | 2,745 | — | $1,858 | $5,100,000 | 1 | Warner Bros. |
| 8 | Spider-Man: Far from Home | $5,000,000 | -37% | 2,678 | -768 | $1,867 | $370,672,490 | 6 | Sony / Columbia |
| 9 | Toy Story 4 | $4,500,000 | -39% | 2,295 | -930 | $1,961 | $419,678,368 | 8 | Disney |
| 10 | Brian Banks | $2,000,000 | — | 1,240 | — | $1,613 | $2,000,000 | 1 | Bleecker Street |
| # | TITLE | WEEKEND | LOCATIONS | AVG. | TOTAL | WKS. | DIST. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Farewell | $2,100,000 | -13% | 704 | 295 | $2,983 | $10,209,128 | 5 | A24 |
| 2 | Yesterday | $1,200,000 | -51% | 866 | -971 | $1,386 | $70,554,730 | 7 | Universal Pictures |
| 3 | Aladdin | $785,000 | -63% | 615 | -755 | $1,276 | $352,740,267 | 12 | Disney |
| 4 | Crawl | $730,000 | -67% | 757 | -1328 | $964 | $38,100,074 | 5 | Paramount Pictures |
| 5 | The Secret Life of Pets 2 | $450,000 | -39% | 402 | -377 | $1,119 | $156,618,455 | 10 | Universal |
| 6 | Avengers: Endgame | $195,000 | -49% | 237 | -183 | $823 | $857,914,768 | 16 | Disney |
| 7 | Rocketman | $170,000 | -42% | 181 | -173 | $939 | $95,920,917 | 11 | Paramount Pictures |
| 8 | John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum | $118,000 | -52% | 174 | -165 | $678 | $170,455,567 | 13 | Lionsgate |
| 9 | Stuber | $63,000 | -89% | 110 | -970 | $573 | $22,254,923 | 5 | 20th Century Fox |
| # | TITLE | WEEKEND | LOCATIONS | AVG. | TOTAL | WKS. | DIST. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dark Phoenix | $33,000 | -67% | 80 | -45 | $413 | $65,828,828 | 10 | Fox |
| 2 | Bethany Hamilton: Unstoppable | $1,700 | -81% | 6 | -18 | $283 | $581,586 | 5 | Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures |
Friday Report: Three of this weekend’s openers have reported Thursday preview earnings heading into Friday afternoon, and Lionsgate’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark has the early lead with a strong $2.33 million start last night. By comparison, that more than doubles the $1 million start of Slender Man one year ago, as well as the same mark by Crawl just last month. It should be noted, however, there may be a minor fan rush in play due to Guillermo del Toro’s producing role.
Paramount’s Dora and the Lost City of Gold is also off to a healthy start with $1.25 million earned from shows beginning at 4pm yesterday. Early-to-mid August comps aren’t numerous for the family-driven pic with many schools already heading back into session, but the early start isn’t far behind that of Pixels ($1.5 million) a few summers ago.
Meanwhile, The Art of Racing in the Rain grossed $450K from shows beginning at 6pm on Thursday. That number lands in between the $535K Thursday start of A Dog’s Way Home earlier this year and A Dog’s Journey‘s $275K back in May.
Rounding out the weekend’s new releases, Warner Bros. and Bleecker Street had not reported Thursday night earnings for The Kitchen or Brian Banks, respectively, as of this report’s publishing.
We’ll have more updates throughout the weekend. In the mean time, check out our previous forecast for additional pre-weekend analysis.
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