"Fast X" Opens at $67.5M Opening

[JamesG]

Fast X Screeches to the Top of the Box Office with $67.5 Million Opening
by Erik Childress
May 21, 2023


The second big title of the summer season opened this weekend, and the numbers are big for Fast X. The 10th installment of The Fast and Furious Saga vroomed into theaters with a cast list bigger than any Ocean’s film or 1960s ensemble war film.

As domestic grosses go, its opening was in the bottom half of the franchise. Its Thursday numbers were slightly better than F9’s, which feels like a minor victory given that the earlier film was released during the summer of the pandemic vaccine. Ultimately, chapter 10 could not quite get over the ninth film’s opening hump, but it has a far bigger hump to get over if this is not to be the first failure featuring the series’ core cast.







Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has been holding up far better than even most optimists imagined. Even after its first big challenger to whisk away moviegoers opened this weekend, Guardians still pulled in $31.9 million, putting its third weekend not far from last summer’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which had a $32.8 million third frame.

Doctor Strange still had an incredible head start on Guardians, comparing opening weekends. But now with the 13th-best 17-day start for a May release with over $266 million is now looking at a finish over $330 million, currently outpacing Deadpool 2 by around $13 million.

It could easily get over the original’s $333 million and these numbers could very well be good enough to top the summer box office. The film is over $659 million worldwide. About another $90 million to go before it turns a profit, but unlike Fast X it should get there.







Guardians star Chris Pratt’s other film, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, continues its run with another $9.8 million bringing its total to $549 million. That is still behind Incredibles 2’s $572.8 million after its seventh weekend though Mario continues to inch forward besting the Pixar film’s $7.2 million haul in the same frame.

The window for $600 million is shrinking a bit, but it will be passing The Fate of the Furious ($1.236 billion) and Incredibles 2 ($1.243 billion) globally very soon as it aims to join the top 20 all-time along with being the top film of 2023.







Book Club: The Next Chapter rounds out the top 5, taking just $3 million for fourth place. Its 10-day total of $13.1 million still has not matched the opening weekend of the first film ($13.5 million) back in 2018.

Warner Bros.’ Evil Dead Rise spent its fifth straight week in the top 5. The horror film, which was once relegated for streaming, earned another $2.3 million for a total of $64 million. It has made $135.6 million worldwide on an estimated $15 million–$19 million production budget.







Lionsgate makes up the next two spots with John Wick: Chapter 4 adding another $1.33 million, which brings its total over $185 million and the franchise overall joining the billion-dollar club worldwide.

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. boasts a 99% Certified Fresh Tomatometer score and grossed another $1.32 million but has a total of just $18.6 million.







Last week’s Robert Rodriguez dud, Hypnotic, has held on for another week dropping 63 percent to $825,000 for a total of just $4 million. In two weeks, Hypnotic has grossed 6.1 percent of its $65 million price tag.

On a brighter side, another critically acclaimed film has made its way into the top 10 in just a third of the theaters that Hypnotic is in.







Matt Johnson’s Blackberry from IFC Films grossed $275,000. At $1.2 million, Blackberry is IFC’s third film in 2023 to break a million alongside The Lost King and Skinamarink.

Blackberry was chosen as the opening night film at this year’s Chicago Critics Film Festival.



Paul Schrader’s latest, Master Gardener, with Joel Edgerton and Sigourney Weaver, earned $269,000 in 220 theaters.

Zachary Wigon’s Sanctuary was also released from Neon in five theaters and the 96%-rated film with Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott made $65,000.

https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com...ening-weekend/







May 19-21, 2023: Weekend Studio Estimates

1. Fast X $67,500,000
2. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 $31,980,000 / $266,522,579
3. The Super Mario Bros. Movie $9,800,000 / $9,800,000
4. Book Club: The Next Chapter $3,000,000 / $13,125,220
5. Evil Dead Rise $2,375,000 / $64,105,752
6. John Wick: Chapter 4 $1,332,000 / $185,313,565
7. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. $1,326,000 / $18,696,250
8. Hypnotic $825,000 / $4,061,216
9. Love Again $400,000 / $5,900,939
10. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves $385,000 / $92,875,289