Weekend Box Office: Furious Frenzy

Back in 2001, who could’ve guessed that the ‘Point Break’ rip-off ‘The Fast and the Furious’ would kick off a major blockbuster franchise, much less a franchise that would be more successful than ever 14 years later with its seventh installment? Nobody. No one saw this coming.

Moviegoers showed up in droves to take “one last ride” this weekend, giving ‘Furious 7‘ the biggest release of the year. From more than 4,000 locations, the sixth ‘Fast and Furious’ sequel pulled in $143.6 million, making it the ninth-highest opening of all time and the best April debut of all time – and that’s entirely without the help of 3D ticket costs. IMAX showings resulted in $14 million, which is the second-highest amount for that after ‘The Dark Knight Rises’.

Although it has yet to open in several major markets, ‘Furious 7’ also nabbed an amazing $240 million from international showings. After just three days, it sits with a worldwide total of $384 million. Domestically, ‘Furious 7’ is expected to bow near the $350 million mark. Worldwide, it’s on its way to the billion-dollar club. Now down one of the franchise’s co-leads, it’ll be interesting to see if or how Universal can keep the series speeding along.

Second place went to last week’s big winner ‘Home‘. The DreamWorks Animation flick fell harder than expected in its second week (47%), but earned another $27.4 million. Its $95.6 million ten-day total is solid, but the $135 million film will need to hold up a lot better in the coming weeks to be considered a success.

With an even more disappointing second week, ‘Get Hard‘ fell to third place after dropping 62% week-over-week – which is unusually high for a comedy. The $12.9 million it earned gives it a ten-day total of $57 million.

Cinderella‘ slipped a mild 40% in its fourth week and remained in the #4 spot. With another $10.2 million, its run now sits at $167.2 million. This great total makes it the highest-grossing picture released in 2015. However, ‘Furious 7’ will certainly topple that milestone shortly.

Three-week-old ‘Insurgent‘ dropped to fifth place. The 3D ‘Divergent’ sequel crossed the $100 million mark with a $10 million haul.

Despite opening on just 258 screens, the Helen Mirren/Ryan Reynolds drama ‘Woman in Gold‘ landed in the #7 spot with $2 million. The Weinstein Company’s picture wasn’t expected to do nearly this much business, so it’ll be interesting to see whether the studio expands the film or continues its limited platform release.

IFC’s Anton Yelchin romantic dramedy ‘5 to 7‘ did not have an impressive debut. From two screens, it earned $19,600 for a $9,800 per-screen average.

Top 10:

1. ‘Furious 7’ (Universal) – $143,623,000

2. ‘Home’ (Fox) – $27,400,000

3. ‘Get Hard’ (Warner Bros.) – $12,925,000

4. ‘Cinderella’ (Buena Vista) – $10,289,000

5. ‘Insurgent’ (Lionsgate) – $10,000,000

6. ‘It Follows’ (Radius) – $2,465,000

7. ‘Woman in Gold’ (Weinstein) – $2,004,000

8. ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’ (Fox) – $1,700,000

9. ‘Do You Believe?’ (Freestyle) – $1,500,000

10. ‘The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’ (Fox Searchlight) – $1,000,000

1 comment

  1. William Henley

    I am assuming this means that more people saw F&F in theaters this weekend than they did previous movies in the franchise. That’s pretty impressive.

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