Universal’s Hobbs & Shaw is easily winning the weekend box office race after speeding to $23.7 million on Friday for a projected domestic debut of $60 million, more than enough to take down holdovers The Lion King and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. The Fast & Furious spinoff – starring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham – is doing far bigger big business overseas, where the high-octane series is one of the most popular action franchises in modern times. The spinoff is launching this weekend in most of the world, followed later this month by South Korea and China. The pic is looking at a weekend foreign haul of $120 million for a global opening of $180 million through Sunday. According to The Hollywood Reporter, heading into the weekend, tracking services suggested a North American debut of $60 million to $65 million, while more bullish box office analysts predicted $70 million or more. Nevertheless, $60 million would mark the best opening of Johnson’s career outside of the main Fast & Furious movies, not adjusted for inflation (ditto for Statham). And it’s the biggest domestic opening of the summer outside of Disney movies and superhero pics, passing up John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum ($56.8 million). Directed by David Leitch (Deadpool 2), Hobbs & Shaw nabbed an A- CinemaScore and strong exit scores on PostTrak. The Universal movie has no shortage of star power; the cast also includes Idris Elba, Helen Mirren and Vanessa Kirby — along with two high-profile surprise cameos (Ryan Reynolds and Kevin Hart).

May 10th, 2021

Trailer: Helen Mirren Stars In Amazon’s Packed Sci-Fi Series “Solos”

May 19th, 2019

Helen Mirren attends 72nd Cannes Film Festival

January 20th, 2018

Helen Mirren on “The Graham Norton Show” video & screencaptures