‘Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood’ overperforms as ‘Lion King’ continues box office reign

Though it couldn’t topple “Lion King” to achieve box office domination, Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” gave the director the best opening weekend of his career, earning $40.4 million, according to estimates from measurement firm Comscore.

Distributed by Sony, the film marks the director’s biggest opening weekend of any of his nine films, besting 2009’s “Inglourious Basterds,” which debuted to $38 million on its way to $321.5 million in global receipts.

“The success of ‘Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood’ proves that in the right hands, both creatively and in terms of the distribution and marketing strategy, an R-rated, almost three-hour-long period drama can have mass appeal and yet maintain its credibility as a true piece of auteur-driven cinema,” said Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst at Comscore. “Tarantino created a knockout of a movie that is at once edgy and accessible, violent and funny and at its core is a buddy movie that audiences clearly found irresistible.”

The $90-million film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a TV star on the decline and Brad Pitt as his longtime, long-suffering stunt double. It was well-received with a B CinemaScore and an 85% “fresh” rating on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes. The film is the first Tarantino movie not released by disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein after his studio’s declaration of bankruptcy last year.

Tarantino’s 2012 hit “Django Unchained” opened with $30 million on its way to $425 million globally. Most recently, the director’s 2015 western “The Hateful Eight” earned a relatively modest $155.8 million worldwide with $54 million in North American receipts.

Disney’s live-action “Lion King” adaptation continued its box office reign for a second consecutive weekend, adding $75.5 million (a 61% drop) for a cumulative $350.8 million. The film, which opened with a stellar $191.8 million in North America last weekend, stands at $962.7 million in worldwide receipts.

At No. 3, Sony’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home” added $12.2 million in its fourth weekend for a cumulative $344.5 million. The film surpassed $1 billion in worldwide receipts last week and stands at $1.03 billion.

In fourth place, Disney’s “Toy Story 4” added $9.9 million in its sixth weekend for a cumulative $395.6 million.

Rounding out the top five, Paramount’s “Crawl” added $4 million in its third weekend for a cumulative $31.5 million.

At No. 6, Universal’s “Yesterday” added $3 million in its fifth weekend for a cumulative $63.3 million.

In seventh place, Disney’s “Aladdin,” another live-action remake of an animated 1990s hit, added $2.8 million in its 10th weekend for a cumulative $346 million. It joined “Spider-Man” in crossing the billion dollar plateau globally this week.

At No. 8, Fox’s “Stuber” added $1.7 million in its third weekend for a cumulative $20.1 million.

In ninth place, Warner Bros.’ “Annabelle Comes Home”added $1.6 million in its third weekend for a cumulative $69.7 million.

Rounding out the top 10, A24’s “The Farewell” added $1.5 million in its fifth weekend for a cumulative $3.7 million. The film expanded into 135 locations from 35 for a strong per-screen average of $11,510.

In limited release, Neon opened “Honeyland” in two locations to $30,000 for a per-screen average of $15,000.

Kino Lorber opened “The Mountain” on two screens to $16,013 for a per-screen average of $8,0007.

Sony Pictures Classics expanded “David Crosby: Remember My Name” into 11 locations in its second weekend (up from four last week) to $29,396 for a per-screen average of $2,672 and a cumulative $86,247.

This week, Universal releases “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw,” starring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham, and 1091 opens the thriller “Them That Follow” with Oscar winner Olivia Colman in limited release.