Furious sets box office record
LOS ANGELES — The eighth installment in the Fast and the Furious has become the biggest worldwide debut of all time, besting both Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Jurassic World.
Universal Pictures said The Fate of the Furious earned a record $532.5 million worldwide over the Easter holiday weekend, thanks to a particularly robust showing in 63 territories, including China.
The movie inched past the previous record holder, Star Wars: The Force Awakens which launched to $529 million in December of 2015 without China.
The film broke the record for biggest international weekend ever, with $432.3 million. The previous record holder was Jurassic World with $316.7 million.
The China opening alone brought in a record $190 million followed by $17.8 million from Mexico and $17 million from the U.K. and Ireland.
An estimated $100.2 million of the global total comes from 4,310 North American theatres — a second best for the franchise and enough to easily top the domestic charts, but well below the $147.2 million opening of Furious 7 in 2015.
Furious 7 had a groundswell of additional interest due to the death of actor Paul Walker, who played cop-turned-street-racer Brian O’Conner, a lead character in six of the films. He died in a car crash while the film was still in production.
The Fate of the Furious has many of the returning stars such as Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese and Ludacris, but has added some new elements behind the camera in director F. Gary Gray and in front of the camera with Charlize Theron.
The $100.2 million is slightly below analyst expectations for the film.
The studio has not released an official production budget, but it is reported to be in the pricey $250-million range. However, an A Cinema Score from exit polls suggest that it will have sufficient staying power.
The Fast and the Furious is a global juggernaut for Universal Pictures, which plans two additional pictures. With the addition of Fast 8, the franchise has earned an estimated $4.4 billion globally.
“It is a franchise that has adapted and changed over the years and is as relevant in 2017 as it was in 2001,” noted Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for comScore. “The Furious franchise perfectly represents what that global audience is all about.”
The rest of the chart looked sleepy in comparison to the fresh fuel of The Fate of the Furious. The Boss Baby took second with $15.5 million, while Beauty and the Beast held on to third place with $13.6 million. Rounding out the top five were Smurfs: The Lost Village with $6.5 million and Going in Style with $6.4 million.
The summer movie season really kicks into high gear in a few weeks when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 goes into orbit.