If only Paul was here to see this.
“Furious 7” raced to the top of the domestic box office, picking up a massive US$143.6 million in its opening weekend.
That establishes a new high-water mark for the month of April, blowing past the US$95 million debut of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” as well as marks the highest grossing kick-off for any film in the “Fast and Furious” franchise. It also ranks 9th among the top 10 openings in history.
Audiences flocked to see star Paul Walker in one of his final roles. The actor died in a 2013 car crash at the age of 40 and his work on the film was completed by using digital technology and a series of stand-ins.
BoxOffice.com vice president and chief analyst Phil Contrino said of the high octane 7th “Fast & Furious” instalment:
This is a bittersweet installment in the franchise. Paul Walker’s passing made this movie more intriguing for people who hadn’t seen some of the installments. It raised awareness and its success is a tribute to him.
Universal Pictures spared no expense in bringing the latest chapter in the fast cars and gravity-defying-stunts series to the big screen, shelling out US$190 million on the production.
Even if it meant having to engage the late Paul Walker’s brothers to stand-in for the actor and utilising CG in post-production to “fill in the blanks” for the film.
It unspooled in 4,003 North American theatres, earning US$14 million on 365 Imax screens and US$11.5 million from premium large format screens. Going into the weekend, most analysts estimated that the film would open in the US$115 million range.
Foreign numbers have yet to be released, but they promise to be steroidal. Internationally, the film rolled out across 10,500 screens in 63 territories.
Watch the trailer here:
“Furious 7” was released worldwide on 3rd April. Maybe it’s high time for you to go catch it in a cinema near you too, eh? We did already 😉
Meanwhile, check out some “Furious 7” fun facts here.
