Weekend Box Office Report: The Lion King holds the throne!

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Disney's Lion is still King!

The remake of Disney's cherished African tale sat atop the box office for a second weekend as THE LION KING remained in first place with an estimated $75.5 million!

Director Jon Favreau's realistically animated update of Disney's beloved 1994 'toon classic shed 60% of business from its opening last weekend. But with a mighty ten-day domestic total of $350.7 million, Simba's musical journey is already the second-biggest release of the summer behind Disney's own TOY STORY sequel.

With a worldwide total of $962.7 million, the PG-rated animal adventure is already nearing the peak of the billion-dollar mountain as the regal beast gets ready to pounce on the $966 million global finish of Favreau's similarly crafted 2016 remake of THE JUNGLE BOOK. (For Disney's live-action "reimaginings", BEAUTY AND THE BEAST still holds the crown with $1.26 billion worldwide.)

Opening in second place was Quentin Tarantino's ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD with $40.3 million.

The R-rated 1969 opus scored a career-best opening for the writer-director, ahead of the $38 million debut of his WWII movie INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS in 2009.

Tarantino's Los Angeles period piece, with Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot Robbie, Al Pacino and a lengthy list of familiar faces, cost a reported $90 million.

Most critics thought the filmmaker's love-letter to Hollywood "Golden Age" was pretty groovy, giving it an 86% average on Rotten Tomatoes. Cruise on over to the JoBlo review HERE.

The Sony-distributed Marvel sequel SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME was in third place with $12.2 million. After four weekends, Peter Parker's PG-13 Eurotrip has climbed to a domestic total of $344.4 million to overtake the $334 million finish of SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING.

Spidey's contentious relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal's Mysterio has also become the ninth Marvel Cinematic Universe movie to join the billion-dollar club, with a current worldwide total of $1.03 billion (on a reported $160 million cost).

The Pixar sequel TOY STORY 4 was in fourth place with $9.8 million, bringing the animated playthings close to the $400 million domestic mark (TOY STORY 3 finished with $415 million in 2010). Tom Hanks and Tim Allen's plastic counterparts have also collected a worldwide total of $917.9 million after six weekends.

In fifth place was horror-thriller CRAWL with $4 million, with the R-rated aligator terror from director Alexandre Aja and producer Sam Raimi swallowing a domestic total of $31.4 million and $45.8 million worldwide, on a reported $13.5 million cost.

The PG-13 musical comedy YESTERDAY was in sixth place with $3 million. Director Danny Boyle's $26 million Beatles-song fantasy has become a minor summer hit to the tune of $63.3 million domestic and $109.6 million worldwide.

The live-action update of ALADDIN stayed in seventh place with $2.7 million. The powerful magic has brought director Guy Ritchie's PG-rated musical fantasy to a domestic total of $345.9 million as the $183 million remake also topped $1 billion worldwide.

The "buddy cop" action-comedy STUBER was in eighth place with $1.6 million. On its third weekend, the R-rated Dave Bautista/Kumail Nanjiani pairing  has a domestic total of $20.1 million and $25.3 million worldwide on a reported $16 million cost.

In ninth place was R-rated supernatural horror sequel ANNABELLE COMES HOME with $1.5 million. The $30 million haunted-doll spinoff of THE CONJURING has a domestic total of $69.7 million and $207.4 million worldwide.

Jumping onto the list in tenth place was the PG-rated comedy-drama THE FAREWELL with $1.5 million.

The Awkwafina-led ensemble movie expanded its limited release to 135 screens for a $3.6 million domestic total (and the second-best per-screen average in this week's Top 10 behind only Disney's roaring remake).

Outside the chart, R-rated horror-thriller MIDSOMMAR took a vacation along with the animated sequel THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS 2, while the limited release of the R-rated Jesse Eisenberg dark comedy THE ART OF SELF-DEFENSE now has a $2 million domestic total.

Next weekend has Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Jason Statham clashing with  Idris Elba (and each other) in the spinoff FAST & FURIOUS PRESENTS: HOBBS & SHAW. Limited releases include the Naomi Watts/Octavia Spencer drama LUCE, and the thriller THE NIGHTINGALE from THE BABADOOK filmmaker Jennifer Kent.

Which August release are you most interested in seeing? VOTE HERE!