Weekend Box Office: Furious 7 Opens to April Record

By Chris Kavan - 04/05/15 at 10:54 PM CT

There was no competition this weekend - and that wasn't a surprise. Even after seven installments, The Fast and the Furious proved it was nowhere near out of gas - and, in fact, is still gaining speed. Granted, this one had a lot of sentimental factors attached to it as well, but even so, it easily blew away the previous April record holder and with not direct competition for pretty much the entire month, looks well on its way being a major hit. It left little room for the rest of the pack, but it was still an weekend to remember.

1) FURIOUS 7

The given winner of the weekend - the only question was how big it was going to open. That was answered in tremendous fashion - a whopping $143.6 million. That was enough to place it 9th on the all-time list, as well as crush the April record set by Captain America: The Winder Solider ($95 million) set last year. It was also the biggest opening for the Furious franchise yet - up a massive 47% compared to Fast 6. It also enjoyed one of the best openings for 2D film in IMAX - earning $14 million (only The Dark Knight Rises opened better). Globally, the film also hit a home run, scoring $240.4 million overseas - with big markets like China and Japan still on the way, it should become the next member of the $1 billion dollar club. The movie was a 50/50 split between men and women, ran a bit older (56% over 25) and also drew a sizable Hispanic audience (37%). It has earned high marks from critics and an "A" Cinemascore. The film should have no problem topping $300 million and is likely to run much higher - $350 million or better. It has a lot of factors going for it - not the least of which is celebrating the life of late actor Paul Walker. There is also the (unlikely) probability this will be the final Furious film - and beyond that, it's just a great action film - you could say this marks the beginning of the "summer" movie season (it seems to come earlier and earlier every year). But I agree, it's well worth the time and money to check out - one final ride indeed.

2) HOME

The family audience seems to depart Home a bit quicker than expected. In its second weekend, Home dipped 47% - much steeper than The Croods (which only fell 37%) and about in line with Monsters Vs. Aliens (45%). It took in $27.4 million to raise its total to $95.6 million. Even with the drop, it will have no problem crossing the $100 million marks in the next few days and should top its $135 million budget on its way to around the $150 million mark or so.


3) GET HARD

The Will Ferrell/Kevin Hart comedy burned up most of its audience on opening weekend it seems, as it took a pretty massive 62% hit from its first weekend. That is the same dip that Semi-Pro fell and doesn't bode well for its long-term prospects. Granted, its main audience is also the same as Furious 7 - and it didn't have nearly the universal praise that film has received. Get Hard earned nearly $13 million and now stands at $57 million. It has already topped its $47 million budget, though it now looks like the film will top out at just around the $75 million mark - and well below $100 million.


4) CINDERELLA

For the time being, Cinderella still holds the distinction of being the top-grossing film of 2015 - dropping about 40% in its fourth weekend and taking in $10.2 million for a new total of $167.2 million. It better be happy about that title - because it's likely to lose it within the next few days as Furious 7 will pass it easily by next weekend. That being said, Cinderella's budget is also much more modest ($95 million - Furious 7 is undisclosed, but is obviously much higher than that) and it will likely double that number by the time it exits theaters.


5) INSURGENT

The Divergent sequel fell two spots from third to fifth place, dropping nearly 54% in the process. The YA-driven film took in an even $10 million, giving it a new total of $103.3 million - readily approaching its $110 million budget. While it is likely to fall short of Divergent on the domestic front, internationally it will top Divergent within the next week or two.



Outside the top five: Opening in limited release, the Helen Mirren-led Woman in Gold opened to just over $2 million (7th place) in just 258 theaters. We'll see if this is a good enough result to push the movie to a more wider release, or if the Weinstein Company will leave it in a more limited capacity.

Speaking of limited releases, the Noah Baumbach directed While We're Young continued to do excellent business in few theaters. Adding 30 locations (for 34 total), it jumped from 24th to 14th place (up 116.5%) with $493,000 for a total of $791,000. This should continue to expand, given the warm reception.

Finally, horror film It Follows added another 437 theaters and though it dipped over 35%, it still has to be considered a win. At $2.5 million (6th place) the well-received horror film now stands at $8.5 million.

Next week the only new release is the romance drama The Longest Ride - which isn't likely to pose much of a threat to Furious 7.

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