The fastest film to reach $1 billion ever? That distinction goes to “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” which hit the mark in all of 12 days. “The Fate Of The Furious” isn’t quite there yet, but revving to a $908 million haul in 10 days is still super-impressive. So yes, in case you were wondering, “The Fate Of The Furious” is the number one movie in the country yet again, but the real story is being told overseas. ‘Furious 8’ made a solid $38 million in North America this weekend, falling 60% for a total that now stands at $163 million domestically. But obviously, 82.0% of its $900 million comes from overseas grosses, so this franchise continues to explode worldwide. It’s obviously a late bloomer, too. “Furious 7” was the first film in the franchise to hit $1 billion and the previous films weren’t even close to that figure. What does its continued success mean? “The Fast And The Furious” franchise is just getting started, and arguably started with the last film, at least in its global awareness. What are you going to get? More ‘F&F’ films for years to come, with spin-offs (one was just announced) and essentially an expanding ‘F&F’ universe that sees no end. One country whose interest is just peaking is China. “The Fate Of The Furious” has made nearly $200 million there so far, so $300 million shouldn’t be hard to achieve.
In new releases, Disney’s “Born In China” bested all newcomers with a solid $5 million haul — good for an animal documentary for kids. Warner Bros.‘ catty throwback thriller “Unforgettable” clocked in at #7 with totally forgettable numbers, and two mid-level budget pictures surprisingly cracked the top 10. However, one of them bombed. Open Road’s “The Promise” scored $4 million, but it was somehow released on 2,251 screens. That’s a pitiful wide-release opening and a $1,806 per screen average. Someone at Open Road is getting fired.
Meanwhile, Amazon and Bleecker Street‘s “The Lost City Of Z” did very well in expanded release; adding 610 theaters, the James Gray movie grossed $2.1 million in box-office receipts. That’s already surpassed the entire run of “The Immigrant” in 2014. At this pace, “The Lost City Of Z” will easily end up as James Gray’s second-highest-grossing film to ever, but it’s clearly not coming close to “We Own The Night,” which is his highest-grossing outlier at $28 million.
It’s not looking so hot for celebrated indie studio A24, however. While Film Twitter was buzzing over their new film “Free Fire” by exemplary director Ben Wheatley, the action pic died on the vine: just $1,039,612 from 1,070 screens for an incredibly low $972 per screen average. A24 had plans to keep expanding the film, but don’t be surprised if it retreats from theaters extremely fast, including a precipitous theater-count loss next week.
In box-office notables, you can basically stick a fork in “Ghost In The Shell”: it hasn’t even hit $40 million after four weeks of release and has tumbled far out of the top 10. Meanwhile, at $170 million, “Get Out” is the 4th highest-grossing film of 2017 domestically so far. “Beauty And The Beast” continues to steamroll. It’s nearing $500 million at home and it holds the current title for highest-grossing film of 2017 both domestically and foreign. Those numbers will hold for now, but “Fast And Furious” is charging for it at full speed.
1 . The Fate of the Furious— $38,682,095 ($163,578,315)
2. The Boss Baby — $12,750,000 ($136,991,870)
3. Beauty and the Beast — $9,973,000 ($471,097,384)
4. Born in China — $5,147,000
5. Going in Style — $5,005,000 ($31,765,843)
6. Smurfs: The Lost Village — $4,850,000 ($33,387,985)
7. Unforgettable — $4,805,000
8. Gifted — $4,500,000 ($10,714,792)
9. The Promise — $4,064,860
10. The Lost City of Z — $2,147,379 ($2,296,79)