In whatever film Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson stars in, it will surely earn big. Add to that Jason Statham, and it makes something so much better.
This was the case with the first spin-off of Fast & Furious called Hobbs & Shaw, which deals with the unconventional partnership between two former enemies, Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw, as they fight a powerful and high-tech antagonist. But is the pairing of two big action stars enough to take the picture high above the scoreboard?
Weekend Box-Office
Yes, it indeed was a box-office success in North America during the weekend with $60.8 million, slightly higher than The Lion King, a remake of the 1994 Disney animated film and which lists Beyonce, Donald Glover, and James Earl James as cast members.
Compared to the last Fast & Furious film, The Fate of the Furious, that earned a whopping $94 million in its opening, this spin-off obviously fell short.
While that may be the case, Hobbs & Shaw is still on the same level as that of another action movie franchise Mission Impossible last year when Fallout was released.
The 2018 Paramount film amassed $61 million, and later earned $220 million domestically and $791 million globally – a high profit considering the $180-million budget. The 2019 movie just needs to get more audience across the globe so it could follow the fate of the Tom Cruise-starrer.
Overseas Figures
During the weekend, the David Leitch-directed film scored $120 million overseas and totaled $180.8 million. This meant that Hobbs & Shaw is off to a good start, considering the budget of $200 million.
As per reports, 60 percent of the opening weekend audience were men and the movie also attracted the young and the old with 50 percent of the crowd being over 25.
The domestic opening marks the biggest for Dwayne and Jason outside the Fast & Furious franchise, which is a good sign.
Plus, the stand-alone movie’s $180 million makes it the fifth highest-grossing in global release under Universal – trailing behind The Fate of the Furious, Jurassic World, Furious 7, and Fifty Shades of Grey.
Hobbs & Shaw sounds so promising after it had gotten a 90-percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and A- on Cinemascore.
Not Really Worth Celebrating?
But despite the opening figure, some say it still proves to be lackluster. Forbes pointed out that $60.8 million is not that high when compared to other Fast & Furious movies.
It is still lower than the 2009’s installment, and, if you consider inflation, then it’s less than 2003’s and 2001’s 2 Fast 2 Furious and Fast and Furious, respectively.
Additionally, it’s the second picture with highest budget in the franchise, sans The Fate of the Furious with $250 million.
While Fate is $50 million more expensive than Hobbs & Shaw, the former managed to rake in over $90 million in domestic sales and about $443 million overseas.
About three days since its premiere, it collected $550 million, which already paid for the expenses plus more.
