LOS ANGELES -- Though it couldn't topple Lion King to achieve box office domination, Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood gave the director the best opening weekend of his career, earning $40.4 million, according to estimates from measurement firm Comscore.
Distributed by Columbia, the film marks the director's biggest opening weekend of any of his nine films, besting 2009's Inglourious Basterds, which debuted to $38 million on its way to $321.5 million in global receipts.
"The success of Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood proves that in the right hands, both creatively and in terms of the distribution and marketing strategy, an R-rated, almost three-hour-long period drama can have mass appeal and yet maintain its credibility as a true piece of auteur-driven cinema," said Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst at Comscore. "Tarantino created a knockout of a movie that is at once edgy and accessible, violent and funny and at its core is a buddy movie that audiences clearly found irresistible."
The $90 million film was well-received with a B CinemaScore and an 85% fresh rating on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes. The film is the first Tarantino movie not released by disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein after his studio's declaration of bankruptcy last year.
Having two of the biggest names in Hollywood lead the new movie probably helped. The story centers on the professional relationship and friendship between a made-up TV actor, Rick Dalton (DiCaprio), and his longtime stunt double, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). Its splintered story mixes fact and fiction, and attempts to capture the energy of an era that saw Hollywood and hippie culture collide. The movie also features portrayals of many real-life figures, most notably actress Sharon Tate, who is played by Margot Robbie.
"In our fan survey, over 40% of the audience went to see the movie because of the director," Dergarabedian said. "That's incredible. You almost never see that. [Columbia] did a great job of putting that cast and certainly Tarantino at the front of the marketing. That collective star power just paid huge dividends."
It's also the sort of film that's unlikely to experience a major drop-off in the coming weeks, and its long legs could walk it into awards season given Hollywood's persistent love for movies about itself.
But all that was only enough to land Once Upon a Time in the No. 2 spot at the box office last weekend. The reason? Donald Glover, Beyoncé and millions of strands of digital fur.
Yes, first place again went to Disney's The Lion King, the realistic remake directed by Jon Favreau, which sold $75.5 million tickets domestically in its second weekend. The movie picked up an additional $142.8 million internationally, according to the studio, bringing its cumulative global total to a whopping $962.7 million.
"Lion King has appealed to everyone, that's a second-weekend gross that would be the envy of most films on their opening weekend," Dergarabedian said.
The two-week take is also a sign that audiences are not yet feeling fatigue for Disney's live-action remakes in a year that has already seen Dumbo and Aladdin.
"The idea that remake burnout would be in effect for The Lion King has not proven true," Dergarabedian said. "Some brands are inoculated from that kind of negative speculation."
That's even more good news for the ever-dominant Disney, with a live-action Mulan slated for early next year and more remakes in the planning stages.
At No. 3, Columbia's Spider-Man: Far From Home added $12.2 million in its fourth weekend for a cumulative $344.5 million. The film surpassed $1 billion in worldwide receipts last week and stands at $1.03 billion.
In fourth place, Disney's Toy Story 4 added $9.9 million in its sixth weekend for a cumulative $395.6 million.
Rounding out the top five, Paramount's Crawl added $4 million in its third weekend for a cumulative $31.5 million.
At No. 6, Universal's Yesterday added $3 million in its fifth weekend for a cumulative $63.3 million.
In seventh place, Disney's Aladdin, another live-action remake of an animated 1990s hit, added $2.8 million in its 10th weekend for a cumulative $346 million. It joined Spider-Man in crossing the billion dollar plateau globally last week.
At No. 8, Fox's Stuber added $1.7 million in its third weekend for a cumulative $20.1 million.
In ninth place, Warner Bros.' Annabelle Comes Home added $1.6 million in its third weekend for a cumulative $69.7 million.
Also notable was A24's The Farewell, at No. 10, a subtitled dramedy from the filmmaker Lulu Wang that expanded from 35 to 135 theaters and brought in about $1.6 million this weekend, according to Comscore. The Farewell had a per-screen average of $11,510, the second best of the weekend behind The Lion King.
In limited release, Neon opened Honeyland in two locations to $30,000 for a per-screen average of $15,000.
Kino Lorber opened The Mountain on two screens to $16,013 for a per-screen average of $8,007.
Sony Pictures Classics expanded David Crosby: Remember My Name into 11 locations in its second weekend (up from four last week) to $29,396 for a per-screen average of $2,672 and a cumulative $86,247.
This week, Universal releases Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, starring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham, and 1091 opens the thriller Them That Follow with Oscar winner Olivia Colman in limited release.
MovieStyle on 08/02/2019