‘Furious 7’ left all its competitors in the dust with a scorching global debut of $384 million.
Much as The Dark Knight turned into a memorial for Heath Ledger, audiences flocked to see star Paul Walker in one of his final roles. The actor died in a 2013 car crash at the age of 40 and his work on the film was completed by using digital technology and a series of stand-ins.
The latest installment in the ‘Fast and Furious’ franchise kicked off in 63 international markets, as well as the US and Canada. It marked Universal Pictures’ biggest wide release ever, unspooling in 14,009 theaters around the world, 4,004 locations in North America, including Imax and large format locations, Variety reported.
It ranks as the fourth highest-grossing global opening in history behind ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ ($483.2 million), ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ ($394.4 million) and ‘The Avengers’ ($392.5 million). It also ranks ninth among the top ten domestic openings in history.
The opening was a $143.6 million Stateside bow and a $240.4 million international kickoff. It’s a particularly impressive international figure, because ‘Furious 7’ has yet to open in such major markets as Russia, Japan and China.
The movie shattered records, becoming the biggest Easter opening in history, the highest-ever April debut blowing past the $95 million debut of ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’, Universal’s largest opening, an April record for Imax and a record for premium large-format screens.
Mexico was the top-grossing territory for the film with $20.8 million, followed by the United Kingdom and Ireland at $19 million and Germany with a $15.2 million start.
Accompanying the late Paul Walker, several famous actors star in the movie including Vin Diesel, Jason Statham, Dwayne Johnson (the Rock), Kurt Russell, and Michelle Rodriguez.
The action/crime/thriller tells the story of Dominic Torretto and his crew who defeated an international terrorist. But now, his brother is out killing the crew one by one for revenge.
Analysts told Variety on Sunday that they expect the film to become the first chapter in the series to hit $1 billion.
The month of April is lean on blockbuster fare and ‘Furious 7’ won’t get serious competition until ‘The Avengers: Age of Ultron’ debuts on May 1.
