It wasn’t exactly a shocker that Furious 7, the latest chapter in the durable Fast and Furious franchise, took the checkered flag this weekend. But the fact that it lapped the field five times? Yeah, that might’ve raised an eyebrow or two. Or singed ’em clean off.
Furious 7 might as well have been a McLaren P1 in a field stocked with Gremlins. Paul Walker’s final film collected an estimated $143.6 million—the ninth-highest domestic debut in history. In one weekend, the Vin Diesel-headed actioner became the year’s fourth-highest grossing movie—speeding past the likes of Kingsman: The Secret Service and The Divergent Series: Insurgent as if they were eating hot dogs in the stands. Sequels, take note of Furious 7′s streamlined title: Colons apparently create a lot of drag.
The high-octane thriller earned another $240 million globally, by the way—and that’s without help from such film-loving countries as China, Japan and Russia. Prognosticators believe that Furious 7 will likely nab more than $1 billion worldwide by the end of its run (or about .006% of the national debt), putting it in select company indeed.
The rest of the field could only watch and wave as Furious 7 whizzed by. Home, DreamWorks’ latest animated flick, was the best of the rest, banking $27.4 million. Not exactly Furious, but miffed? Maybe. The R-rated comedy Get Hard smuggled $12.9 million to finish third.
Cinderella, Disney’s much-regarded retelling of the fabled fairy tale, finished fourth with $10.3 million. The gross made Cinderella, at least temporarily, the belle of the 2015 box office ball: Its $167.3 million officially pushed it ahead of Fifty Shades of Grey as the year’s most lucrative movie. Given Furious 7′s charge, Cinderella can enjoy the title for, oh, another 11 minutes or so.
Insurgent wrapped up the week’s Top Five with a $10 million weekend.
Final figures update: 1. Furious 7, $147.2 million; 2. Home, $27 million; 3. Get Hard, $13.1 million; 4. Cinderella, $10.2 million; 5. The Divergent Series: Insurgent, $10.1 million.
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