"Furious 7" Storms Out of the Gate on Easter Weekend

[JamesG]

Weekend Report: Furious 7 Opens to $384 Million Worldwide
by Ray Subers
April 5, 2015


Furious 7 took the 14-year-old Fast franchise to the next level this weekend with a stunning $143.6 million debut. That opening ranks ninth all-time behind The Avengers, Iron Man 3, the final Harry Potter, two Dark Knight movies, two Hunger Games and Spider-Man 3.

The movie also opened to an incredible $240 million overseas; that's without any help from China, Japan and Russia, where it will open in the next few weeks.

So far, Furious 7 has earned $384 million worldwide, and is very likely on track to earn over $1 billion by the end of its run.



At the domestic box office, Furious 7's $143.6 million debut is 51 percent higher than Captain America: The Winter Soldier's $95 million, which was the previous April record holder. This is also the biggest debut in the franchise thus far, up a whopping 47 percent over Fast & Furious 6.

Furious 7 earned $14 million on IMAX screens alone, which ranks second all-time for a 2D-only movie behind The Dark Knight Rises.



Furious 7's phenomenal success can be attributed to a few factors.

Coming off Fast Five and Fast & Furious 6, the franchise clearly had a ton of momentum; instead of looking like a step backward, Furious 7 appeared to be the biggest installment yet.

Universal also did a nice job pushing the "One Last Ride" tagline, which gave the sense that this may be the last opportunity to see a Fast & Furious movie (which almost certainly isn't the case, but still).

It's also likely that the movie got a bump from fans eager to see Paul Walker's final on-screen performance, as he tragically passed away during production in late 2013.



The movie's audience was split evenly between men (51 percent) and women, and skewed a bit older (56 percent over the age of 25). According to Universal's exit polls, Hispanic moviegoers made up a whopping 37 percent of the audience this weekend.

Even if Furious 7 falls off quickly — for example, at the rate of the very front-loaded fourth installment — it's still guaranteed to make over $300 million total.

With an "A" CinemaScore, strong reviews and zero competition for the next three weeks, it's likely that this plays a bit better than that; a total around $350 million is very possible.







In second place, DreamWorks Animation's Home fell 47 percent to an estimated $27.4 million. That drop is a bit steeper than Monsters vs. Aliens (45 percent) and is way worse than The Croods (39 percent).

Through 10 days, Home has earned $95.6 million.







Get Hard took third place with an estimated $12.9 million, which is off 62 percent from opening weekend. That's a terrible drop for a comedy; among Will Ferrell movies, its identical to Semi-Pro's 62 percent decline.

So far, Get Hard has earned $57 million total, and is now on track to close well below $100 million.







In its fourth weekend, Cinderella eased 40 percent to an estimated $10.3 million.

It's now the highest-grossing movie from 2015 with $167.3 million, though Furious 7 will take that title sometime this week.







The Divergent Series: Insurgent fell 54 percent to an estimated $10 million.

To date, the second installment in the Divergent franchise has earned $103.4 million.







It Follows added 437 locations this weekend — bringing its total to 1,655 — and took in $2.47 million. That's off 35 percent from last weekend, which is a solid hold even with the theater additions.

So far, the acclaimed horror flick has grossed $8.5 million.







Opening at 258 theaters, Woman in Gold took seventh place with an estimated $2 million. That's a good result, though it's tough to tell what that means in the long run.

Does it burn off at a reasonable rate and top out at $7 million or so? Or does it get a nationwide push, and wind up well over $10 million? It will be interesting to see what approach the Weinstein Company goes with over the next week or two.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=4054&p=.htm









April 3-5, 2015 Weekend Studio Estimates:


1. Furious 7 $143,623,000
2. Home $27,400,000 / $95,621,000
3. Get Hard $12,925,000 / $57,004,000
4. Cinderella $10,289,000 / $167,251,000
5. The Divergent Series: Insurgent $10,000,000 / $103,385,000
6. It Follows $2,465,000 / $8,541,000
7. Woman in Gold $2,004,000
8. Kingsman: The Secret Service $1,700,000 / $122,260,000
9. Do You Believe? $1,500,000 / $9,811,000
10. The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel $1,000,000 / $30,059,000