WEEKEND BOX OFFICE BREAKDOWN: April 3-5, 2015
~Matt Reed
A weekend spent in Vegas visiting old friends forced me to postpone this breakdown, but better late than never! Let’s get some perspective on a record-setting opening…
FURIOUS 7 shattered expectations. It opened with an amazing $147.1 mil domestic which is $52 mil more than the previous April opening record holder CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDER ($95 mil in 2014). That $147.1 mil averages out to a mind-boggling $36,760 per screen average. It also grossed $245 mil overseas to make its worldwide opening $392.2 mil. Against a reported $190 mil budget, it’s already a mega-hit. To help put it into context, the original film THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS ended its nearly five month theatrical run with $207.2 mil worldwide back in 2001. 2 FAST 2 FURIOUS (2003) closed with $236.3 mil worldwide in 2003. In fact, you have to get to FAST 5 (2011) to reach a film that closed with more money than FURIOUS 7 made its first weekend. FURIOUS 7 will certainly beat the $238.6 mil domestic it’s predecessor FAST & FURIOUS 6 made in 2013 and has a great chance to beat that film’s overall $788.6 mil worldwide. For a franchise that looked all but dead in the water after THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT grossed just $158.4 mil worldwide in 2006, it has certainly turned into one of the most profitable tent pole films in the movie industry. The franchise sees enormous popularity overseas and looks in no danger of stopping anytime soon.
The only other new release was a limited one. WOMAN IN GOLD, starring Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds, opened in limited release as counter-programming and ended up doing OK if not spectacular business. In just 258 theatres it earned $2 mil, which was good enough to place it at #7.
Short Takes: HOME fell 48% week-to-week which isn’t a great hold for the only animated film in wide release and one of the only family films out there, but it still pulled in $95.2 mil after 10 days. GET HARD dropped hard, losing 61% of its audience after terrible reviews. The $40 mil budgeted buddy comedy has now grossed $57.2 mil domestic. CINDERELLA will cross $400 mil worldwide this week.
Up Next: Yet another week that sees but a single release. The latest Nicholas Sparks adaptation THE LONGEST RIDE should pull in a largely female audience meaning FURIOUS 7 has another week to add big money to its coffers.
Here, as always, are the weekend domestic estimates courtesy of our friends at boxofficemojo.com:
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