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Box-Office Weekend: The King Has Returned

Mike Tyrkus
Box Office Weekend

A new king reigned over the box-office weekend as the live-action (sort of) version of The Lion King debuted with a $185 million haul over the weekend, easily besting the number two film of the weekend, Spider-Man: Far from Home, which made only $21 million (a pale number comparison). Although it was knocked from the top spot in the countdown, Spider-Man: Far from Home still sports a domestic three-week total of $319.7 million. But the weekend undeniably belonged to The Lion King, which incidentally set a new opening weekend record for the month of July.

Dropping to third was Disney’s second entry in this week’s top ten, Toy Story 4, which added $14.6 million to give it a five-week total of $375.5 million. Also dropping one spot, was the horror film Crawl, which made another $6 million, giving the film a two-week tally of $23.8 million. Holding steady in the fifth spot was the Beatle-inspired romance, Yesterday, which finished just behind Crawl with $5.1 million, giving it a four-week total of $57.6 million.

Dropping from fourth to sixth was the comedy Stuber, which managed to pull in $4 million over the weekend. The Dave Bautista/Kumail Nanjiani vehicle now sports a two-week total of $16.1 million as it begins what could be a hasty departure from the top ten in the coming week.

The third entry from Disney in the top ten this week is the live-action Aladdin, which took in $3.8 million over the weekend, giving the film a nine-week domestic total of $340 million and a seventh-place finish in our countdown this week. The horror film Annabelle Comes Home dropped from the seventh spot last week to the eight this week taking in $2.7 million over the weekend. This gives the film a grand total of (get this) $66.6 million over its first four weeks of release. Although a budget for the film hasn’t been officially released, it may be safe to say the film has proven profitable.

In only its third week of release, Midsommar fell one spot to ninth, bringing in $1.6 million, giving the film a domestic total of $22.5 million. Closing out the top ten, the animated film The Secret Life of Pets 2 dropped to the final spot, earning $1.5 million. This gives the film a seven-week total of $151.6 million, which must be disappointing someone on some level, somewhere.

Departing the top ten this week was the sequel Men in Black: International, which currently stands with a domestic total of $78.1 million over the past six weeks and a foreign tally of $167.2 million, all against a budget of approximately $110 million. Only time will tell if this showing ultimately portends the end of the series.

Weekend Box-Office (July 19th – July 21st)

  1. The Lion King…$185 Million
  2. Spider-Man: Far from Home…$21 Million
  3. Toy Story 4…$14.6 Million
  4. Crawl…$12 Million
  5. Yesterday…$5.1 Million
  6. Stuber…$4 Million
  7. Aladdin…$3.8 Million
  8. Annabelle Comes Home…$2.7 Million
  9. Midsommar…$1.6 Million
  10. The Secret Life of Pets 2…$3.1 Million

Finally, although it left the top ten last week, Avengers: Endgame became the new global box office champion this weekend. The Marvel behemoth finally managed to top Avatar (2009) and now reigns with an impressive global tally of $2.79 billion, setting the stage (and rather expectations) for the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Next weekend will see the debut of Quentin Tarantino’s latest film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt. The film will undoubtedly stake a claim to be, ahem, the king of the box-office weekend.

Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com
An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.

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