‘Furious’ inches closer to $1B mark

Holdovers take top three spots

LOS ANGELES — “The Fate of the Furious” sped into first place at the box office again, leaving new thriller “Unforgettable” and historical drama “The Promise” in the dust.

Universal Pictures’ eighth installment in “The Fast and the Furious” franchise earned $38.7 million in North American theaters over the weekend, down 61 percent from its debut, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The newcomers could not compete with the highoctane film, which had the biggest worldwide opening of all time last weekend. It has earned $908.4 million globally so far and is expected to cross $1 billion this week.

Holdovers dominated the charts. “The Boss Baby” took second place with $12.8 million, and “Beauty and the Beast” landed in third with $10 million.

Disney’s animal documentary “Born in China” opened in fourth place, with $5.1 million from 1,508 locations. The two other new movies fared worse.

Warner Bros. thriller “Unforgettable,” starring Katherine Heigl as a jealous ex-wife and Rosario Dawson as the new fiancée, opened at No. 7 with just $4.8 million.

Buddy comedy “Going in Style,” starring Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Alan Arkin, is chugging along at fifth place with $5 million after three weeks .

The historical epic “The Promise,” starring Oscar Isaac and Christian Bale, bombed with a mere $4.1 million from 2,251 theaters. The film’s estimated cost was around $100 million. The movie delves into the mass killings of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey that many countries and most historians call genocide, although Turkey says the deaths stemmed from civil unrest and war.

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” hits theaters May 5.