The latest entry in “The Fast and the Furious” series is proving there’s still plenty of fuel left in the franchise’s tank, with “The Fate of the Furious” zooming to the top spot in the worldwide box office in its opening weekend — and, if the momentum continues, is likely to set a new record as the biggest worldwide debut of all time.
With a domestic take of just over $100 million, Universal Pictures estimates “The Fate of the Furious” will end its opening weekend with a worldwide box office of $532.5 million, which would best previous record-holders “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “Jurassic World” as the film with the all-time biggest opening weekend worldwide, reports Associated Press.
“There is no market that hasn’t had a strong reception,” said Duncan Clark, Universal’s president of international distribution. “Whatever culture, whatever language, whatever country, we seem to have found a home.”
According to reports, the eighth “Fast and the Furious” film brought in a record $190 million in China alone, in addition to $17.8 million in Mexico and $17 million from the U.K. and Ireland.
Despite the mind-boggling worldwide numbers, “The Fate of the Furious” didn’t manage to top the domestic opening-weekend gross of its predecessor, “Furious 7”, which raked in $142 mil at the North American box office during its opening weekend in 2015.
Unfortunately for the competition, the “Furious” juggernaut has left all other films in the dust during the Easter long weekend. ”The Boss Baby” slowed to a second-weekend domestic take of $15.5 million to take second place, while “Beauty and the Beast” held on to third place with $13.6 million (which was enough to send the Disney megahit to cross the $1 billion mark worldwide).
Rounding out the top five: “Smurfs: The Lost Village” at #4 with $6.5 million, and “Going in Style” with $6.4 million, taking fifth place.
