Weekend Box Office: Family First

When the original ‘Fast and Furious’ movie opened in 2001, if a fortune-teller had told me that the eighth installment of the franchise would draw the biggest worldwide opening weekend of all time, I’d have immediately asked for my money back. Yet, here we are.

While the latest title in the series was down 33% from the last one in domestic gross, it still shattered several major records. Let’s start with North America. As weekend estimates have it, ‘The Fate of the Furious‘ opened just across the $100 million mark. When the actuals come in later today, there’s a chance that it might dip below $100 million. As of now, it’s the second picture of 2017 to open above $100 million. Although that number is nothing to balk at, it’s down $47 million from ‘Furious 7‘, the final entry featuring Paul Walker. It’s hard to predict how the $250 million blockbuster will perform in coming weeks, but when in terms of making its money back, it’s just about there thanks to international numbers.

‘The Fate of the Furious’ opened in 63 international markets and finished in first place in all of them. The biggest of the foreign markets was China, where it broke the previous highest-opening record by drawing $190 million. Collectively, the movie grossed $432.3 million overseas. The previous record-holder for international openings was 2015’s ‘Jurassic World’, which started with $316.7 million overseas. Combined with the $100 million in domestic income, ‘The Fate of the Furious’ pulled $532.5 million in all, which was enough to dethrone 2015’s ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ ($529 million) for highest worldwide opening.

Following that massive release, the rest of the box office players were pretty quiet.

The Boss Baby‘ and ‘Beauty and the Beast‘ were the only others in the Top 10 to have per-screen averages north of $2,000. That pair of family flicks finished in second and third place, with $15.5 million and $13.6 million respectively. The $125 million ‘Boss Baby’ has grossed $116.3 million domestically and $122.5 million overseas, bringing its worldwide total up to $238.8 million. The domestic numbers for the $160 million ‘Beauty and the Beast’ are up to $454.6 million. Overseas, it has made $588.4 million, for a worldwide box office $43 million beyond the $1 billion mark.

In fourth place, ‘Smurfs: The Lost Village‘ fell 51% from its opening weekend, which is quite a bit harder than usual for a kids’ flick. Including this week’s $6.5 million in returns, the third ‘Smurfs’ movie is only up to $24.7 million after ten days. Luckily for Sony, the $60 million animated installment has collected $70.3 million overseas, giving it a $95 million worldwide draw.

Going in Style‘ also fell one spot over its second week and rounded out the Top 5. With a 47% dip, it made $6.3 million. Ten days into its theatrical run, the $25 million comedy has $23.3 million domestically and $11.7 million overseas. With a worldwide gross of $35 million, it still has some work to do before getting out of the red.

The 1,100-screen expansion of ‘Gifted‘ landed it in the #6 spot. Marc Webb’s sweet little drama earned $3 million, bringing its domestic total up to $4.3 million. The $7 million indie film has yet to open internationally, but it’s headed in the right direction.

Bleecker Street’s four-screen opening of ‘The Lost City of Z‘ was quite successful. The $112,633 debut resulted in a strong per-screen average of $28,158. You can expect to see it expand in the coming weeks.

Open the other end of the spectrum, the 365-screen limited debut of Open Road’s ‘Spark: A Space Tail‘ was one of the worst flops of all time. The $112,352 opening weekend translates to a per-screen average of just $308.

Top 10:

1. ‘The Fate of the Furious’ (Universal) – $100,181,640

2. ‘The Boss Baby’ (Fox) – $15,540,000

3. ‘Beauty and the Beast’ (Buena Vista) – $13,634,000

4. ‘Smurfs: The Lost Village’ (Sony) – $6,500,000

5. ‘Going in Style’ (Warner Bros.) – $6,350,000

6. ‘Gifted’ (Fox Searchlight) – $3,000,000

7. ‘Get Out’ (Universal) – $2,917,865

8. ‘Power Rangers’ (Lionsgate) – $2,850,000

9. ‘The Case for Christ’ (Pure Flix) – $2,720,000

10. ‘Kong: Skull Island’ (Warner Bros.) – $2,670,000

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *