The first spinoff of the 18-year-old "Fast & Furious" franchise, "Hobbs & Shaw," sped away with $180.8 million in its worldwide debut, including $60.8 million domestically — a strong opening that dethroned "The Lion King" after a two-week reign at No. 1 but couldn't match the box-office pace of recent "Fast & Furious" films.
"Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw" was crafted as a buddy-movie left turn for the car-mad franchise. It teams two franchise regulars, Dwayne Johnson's federal agent Luke Hobbs and mercenary Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), for an adventure outside the previous eight films. Those will resume next May with "Fast & Furious 9."
"The Lion King" slid to second in its third weekend with $38.2 million. The Disney remake crossed $1 billion worldwide, becoming the fourth Disney movie this year to do so. It joins "Avengers: Endgame," "Aladdin" and "Captain Marvel" in that club, with "Toy Story 4" ($959.3 million) poised to soon join them. Not accounting for inflation, this "Lion King" ($1.195 billion) has now out-grossed the 1994 original ($968.5 million).
In its second weekend of release, Quentin Tarantino's 1969 fable "Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood" held strong with $20 million. It cost $90 million to make. But the film's glowing reviews and early Oscar buzz should lead to a long run.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters:
1. "Hobbs & Shaw," $60.8 million.
2. "The Lion King," $38.2 million.
3. "Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood," $20 million.
4. "Spider-man: Far From Home," $7.8 million.
5. "Toy Story 4," $7.2 million.
6. "Yesterday," $2.4 million.
7. "The Farewell," $2.4 million.
8. "Crawl," $2.2 million.
9. "Aladdin," $2 million.
10. "Annabelle Comes Home," $875,000.
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