Saturday Update: Universal reports that Hobbs & Shaw scored a solid $23.72 million opening day in North America on Friday, inclusive of Thursday night’s previously reported $5.8 million earnings.

Comp-wise, Hobbs registered slightly ahead of the first day grosses by films like John Wick 3 ($22.6 million), Mission: Impossible – Fallout ($22.8 million), Star Trek Beyond ($22.3 million), and Jason Bourne ($22.6 million). In fact, the film’s 4.09x multiplier from Thursday night’s earnings bests all of those titles with the exception of Bourne, further boosting indications that this film may not be as front-loaded as once expected based on the franchise’s own history.

Early word of mouth appears very encouraging among audiences as the film boasts a 90 percent Audience Score from 2,608 verified ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, far higher than the 67 percent critics’ score, indicating this will indeed prove to be a late summer crowd-pleaser.

Based on current models, Boxoffice projects Hobbs & Shaw will earn north of $60 million for the weekend (which remains Universal’s projection this morning).

The Lion King added $11.1 million to begin its third weekend, down 50.5 percent from last Friday as the Disney remake continues to prove more front-loaded than once expected. Still, with a $403.75 million domestic haul through 15 days — and having surpassed $1 billion globally earlier this week — it remains one of the biggest blockbusters of the year. Boxoffice projects a third frame around $38 million domestically.

Rounding out the top three, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood eased 66 percent from opening day last week to $5.65 million on Friday. With $64.5 million earned in eight days, the latest Tarantino hit is pacing 8 percent of his Inglorious Basterds, which had earned $59.6 million through eight days of play ten years ago this month. Boxoffice projects a second weekend north of $20 million, while Sony is slightly more conservative at $19.325 million.

Meanwhile, The Farewell expanded to 409 locations with a $706,566 estimate yesterday as it paces for a weekend north of $2 million for A24.

Early weekend estimates are listed below. Studio estimates to follow on Sunday.

Friday Report: Universal confirms this morning that Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw collected $5.8 million from preview shows on Thursday night. Showings began at 7pm in approximately 3,400 theaters domestically.

In the usual comp landscape, that figure is basically in line with John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum‘s $5.9 million start back in May and Mission: Impossible – Fallout‘s $6.0 million one year ago. It also comes in ahead of Star Trek Beyond‘s $5.5 million and Jason Bourne‘s $4.3 million in summer 2016.

For the sake of mentioning, The Fate of the Furious took in $10.4 million from Thursday night previews in April 2017.

Entering the weekend, the studio had been expecting a debut weekend close to $60 million. It remains to be seen how weekend playability holds up in the effort of reaching that mark — with strong walk-up business generally expected. Still, most models now indicate the film is likely to end up on the lower end of expectations stateside.

More updates as they come.

The post Weekend Estimates: <em>Hobbs & Shaw</em> Bows to Healthy $60M+ Domestically, <em>Lion King</em> ($38M) & <em>Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood</em> ($20M) Cap Top Three appeared first on Boxoffice.