A race? Hardly. The box office derby was more like a coronation. The Fate of the Furious, the eighth film in the preposterously durable Fast and the Furious franchise, roared to victory this weekend, while every other movie just jumped to the curb.
All lights were green for Fate—treasury green, that is. The high-octane flick screamed to an estimated $100.2 million in North America, becoming the second film this year to earn more than $100 million in its opening weekend. But Fate really punched the nitrous button overseas: It collected staggering $432.3 million in 63 foreign markets, according to Box Office Mojo, obliterating the old record held by Jurassic World ($316.7 million). Oh, and lump in the film’s domestic take, and Fate’s $532.5 claims the highest global debut in history, squeaking past Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ old record of $529 million. (That might be the first time that a difference of $3.5 million has been called a “squeaker.”)
If only Universal Pictures would donate all its proceeds to paying off the national debt, we’d need just … well, about another 35,900 equally successful films to get back in the black. No problem!
Nothing came close to touching The Fate of the Furious at this weekend’s box office, but The Boss Baby managed to keep the film in sight from its stroller. The animated flick earned $15.5 million in its third weekend of work, pushing its domestic total to $116.3 million. Meanwhile, Beauty and the Beast added another $13.6 million to its own sizable shaggy nest egg, pushing its domestic haul to $454.6 million and its worldwide gross well past the $1 billion mark.
Smurfs: The Lost Village slipped to fourth place with $6.5 million. (I wonder if Vanity Smurf, looking up at those other movies, might be turning a little … green.) And Going in Style may soon be going outside the Top Five. It earned about $6.4 million to take the fifth and final spot.
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