Sorry, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” you are now no longer the record holder for the biggest worldwide opening weekend ever. That distinction goes to “The Fate Of The Furious,” which exploded with a massive $532.4 million opening, cracking ‘The Force Awakens’’ record by about $3 million. ‘Furious 8’ also decimated the international opening weekend record previously held by “Jurassic World.” Universal’s dinosaur movie smashed open with $316.7 million in 2015, and “Fate Of The Furious” destroyed that figure by over $100 million, landing with a tremendous $432.3 million overseas opening thanks to an insane $190 million debut in China — the largest three-day opening weekend of all time there.
So all that talk of at least three more “Fast And Furious” films and potential spin-offs? Yes, expect them to happen. This is another franchise installment headed for $1 billion.
READ MORE: ‘The Fate Of The Furious’ Deserves To Make All Of The Money [Review]
Domestically, it was a slightly different story, perhaps because “Furious 7” featured the last appearance by the late Paul Walker. Episode seven of the “Fast And Furious” series grew exponentially from its predecessors. Domestically, “Furious 7” outgrossed “Fast & Furious 6” by nearly $100 million — a 48% eruption in box office receipts. Internationally, the film caught fire, too, and the difference was astronomical: a 92% increase, nearly doubling its figures worldwide for a $1.51 billion tally (the third highest-grossing movie of 2015). Regardless, “Fate Of The Furious” had a tremendous opening weekend of $103.8 million at home, but there’s no denying the downward trend in North America; “Furious 7” opened to $147 million in 2015, which is basically a 30% drop. Perhaps the inclusion of Helen Mirren in the series could only do so much? Either way, “Fate Of The Furious” did astounding business overall this weekend.
In new releases, well…there were none. No studio was stupid enough to face off against ‘Furious,’ and it was a smart move considering how badly the movie steamrolled all comers. The closest “wide” release contender was Fox Searchlight’s indie “Gifted,” which expanded in week two with 1,146 theaters total. And it didn’t do bad figures considering its middling critical reception.
Aside from the ‘Furious’ detonation, the box-office story of late has been holdover releases. “The Boss Baby” has somehow made $116 million after three weeks, and “Get Out” remains one of the most profitable films of the year with a $4.5 million budget and a $167 million domestic total. Director Jordan Peele can direct whatever he wants next. “Smurfs: The Lost Village” is basically a dead franchise at home after two weeks, but internationally, it’s charting well. The future of “Power Rangers” is looking doubtful as the movie hasn’t even matched its budget at home after four weeks.
READ MORE: ‘Power Rangers’ Feels Like A Reboot Struggling To Figure Itself Out [Review]
In limited release, “The Lost City Of Z” performed very well: $112,633 from four screens for a solid $28,158 per screen average. The Richard Gere-starring “Norman: The Moderate Rise And Tragic Fall Of A New York Fixer” performed well, too: 103,664 from five screens for a $20,733. Meanwhile, Roadside Attractions‘ “Tommy’s Honour” made a dismal $1,311 per screen average from 167 theaters.
In box-office milestones, “Beauty And The Beast” was the first film of 2017 to crack the $1 billion mark after only four-and-a-half weeks in theaters. The movie has made an astonishing $454 million domestically, so this isn’t just some international phenomenon. In fact, keep expecting more and more live-action remakes from Disney as they are just one more gravy-train revenue stream for the company. ‘Beast’ is now the 12th highest-grossing film domestically, and you can only assume that figure will keep rising. Trailing behind ‘Beast’ for the highest numbers of the year globally include “Logan” ($598 million) and “Kong: Skull Island” ($538.3 million).
1. The Fate of the Furious— $100,181,640
2. The Boss Baby — $15,540,000 ($116,323,907)
3. Beauty and the Beast —$13,634,000 ($454,649,751)
4. Smurfs: The Lost Village — $6,500,000 ($24,728,326)
5. Going in Style — $6,350,000 ($23,376,352)
6. Gifted — $3,000,000 ($4,369,910)
7. Get Out — $2,917,865 ($167,547,880)
8. Power Rangers — $2,850,000 ($80,563,748)
9. The Case for Christ — $2,720,000
10. Kong: Skull Island — $2,670,000 ($161,246,181)
Ugh. I really hate when a movie has to rely on it’s international box office to be a hit. Even though a 100 mil opening weekend is nothing to scoff at, like you already mentioned, that is almost 50 mil behind the previous film’s opening but with a budget that is over 60 mil more (250 mil !!!). But just like with Warcraft, here comes China to save the day, which is why Star Wars got beat because those films have never played well internationally for some reason.
I don’t think have to rely is the right term, their planned to rely on it. For the best part of the last decade (bar Star Wars) pretty much every blockbuster film has taken the majority of their box office earnings from non-US markets. These mega budget films haven’t been able to survive on US domestic takings alone for a long time, and are planned with the international box office in mind (the Fast film series in particular). The creative merits of these $250m films are probably more something to be worried about than whether they can draw in American cinema goers.
Well, I’ve just always considered a film that didn’t make its budget back in the US alone, a failure. It’s probably not as we can see here, but it just feels like one. For instance, Kong still hasn’t made it’s budget back and yet they are saying success.
what’s wrong with a movie being popular in another country? $$ is $$, homie.
but doesn’t a u.s.a. film get less dollars via non stateside markets ??
isn’t the number more like 25-28% of the foreign money ???
so yeah, dollars/is dollars. just the more you can get in the states/the better…
Also, Cherize look old.
Isn’t Fast and Furious just Latino Star Wars?