A Furious opening!
Audiences were interested in spending Easter weekend with family — specifically Vin Diesel's car-obsessed clan, putting THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS in first place with an estimated opening of $100.1 million!
The eighth entry in the franchise of velocity and ferocity accelerated off the line slower than the $147 million domestic opening of 2015's FURIOUS 7, the farewell to series co-star Paul Walker. But it got the jump on the $97 million start of FAST & FURIOUS 6 in 2013.
And the latest chapter of vehicular mayhem (this time from STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON director F. Gary Gray) raced to a record worldwide opening of $532 million, which was enough to steal the pink slip from the previous champ, the $529 million global opening for STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS.
That also puts THE FATE OF THE FURIOUS already more than a third of the way to the $1.5 billion worldwide finish of FURIOUS 7. And $195 million of its international box office opening came just from China, which also dusted the record that was set by FURIOUS 7's $182 million debut in that country.
The smash-up spectacle of automotive destruction, bald men and beautiful women (including new addition Charlize Theron) cost a reported $250 million. Critics pumped the brakes with 64% on Rotten Tomatoes (you can check out the JoBlo review HERE).
After two weekends on top, animated infant THE BOSS BABY crawled down to second with $15.5 million. The Alec Baldwin-voiced toddler has a domestic total of $116.3 million.
In third place was Disney's live-action BEAUTY AND THE BEAST with $13.6 million as the Emma Watson/hairy Dan Stevens fairy tale has waltzed to more than $1 billion worldwide.
SMURFS: THE LOST VILLAGE was in fourth with $6.5 million, a drop of 50% from last week's opening. The little blue creatures have a ten-day domestic total of $24.7 million.
In fifth was the remake of GOING IN STYLE with $6.3 million. The elderly crime-comedy with Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Alan Arkin lost 46% of business from its opening last weekend, for a ten-day domestic total of $23.3 million.
Entering the Top 10 was the Chris Evans/Jenny Slate drama GIFTED with $3 million for sixth place. The latest directing effort from Marc Webb (AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, 500 DAYS OF SUMMER) added over 1000 screens after its limited release last week for a $4.3 million domestic total.
Jordan Peele's R-rated horror-thriller GET OUT moved up a slot to seventh with $2.9 million, followed by POWER RANGERS in eighth with $2.8 million. The religious drama THE CASE FOR CHRIST and the gorilla encounter KONG: SKULL ISLAND closed out the list.
Outside the chart, LOGAN finally walked into the sunset and GHOST IN THE SHELL is now an apparition (with $152 million worldwide). The limited release of director James Gray's jungle adventure THE LOST CITY OF Z got a promising start with a $28k per-screen average before it expands next weekend, and the Anne Hathaway monster comedy COLOSSAL added 94 screens for a $462k weekend.
Next weekend offers a few smaller-scale choices like the Oscar Isaac/Christian Bale war drama THE PROMISE, the Rosario Dawson/Katherine Heigl thriller UNFORGETTABLE, the Ridley Scott-produced "found footage" movie PHOENIX FORGOTTEN and director Ben Wheatley's bullet-filled FREE FIRE, plus the expansion of THE LOST CITY OF Z.
What is your favorite movie in the FAST & FURIOUS series? VOTE HERE!
| # | MOVIE TITLE | WKND $ | TOTAL $ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Fate of the Furious | $100.1 M | NEW |
| 2 | The Boss Baby | $15.5 M | $116.3 M |
| 3 | Beauty and the Beast | $13.6 M | $454.6 M |
| 4 | Smurfs: The Lost Village | $6.5 M | $24.7 M |
| 5 | Going in Style | $6.3 M | $23.3 M |
| 6 | Get Out | $2.9 M | $167.5 M |
| 7 | Gifted | $3 M | $4.3 M |
| 8 | Power Rangers | $2.8 M | $80.5 M |
| 9 | The Case for Christ | $2.7 M | $8.4 M |
| 10 | Kong: Skull Island | $2.6 M | $161.2 M |