The latest movie in the “Fast and the Furious” franchise, “The Fate of the Furious,” did not disappoint at the global box office as the eighth installment took in an estimated global haul of $532.5 million, according to numerous reports.
That surpasses “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” ($528.9 million) for the all-time best global opening weekend.
It’s also the best for its studio, Universal, beating the $525.5 million that “Jurassic World” earned in 2015.
The movie also took in $432.3 million at the international box office.
That figure blows away the previous overseas record holder, “Jurassic World” with $316.6 million. It was an incredible weekend in China, with “Furious 8” taking in a record-breaking $63.9 million opening day. It went on to make $190 million in the country over the weekend — the biggest opening ever for a Hollywood movie there.
Where Universal underperformed, surprisingly, was in North America, where the movie took in only $100.2 million.
Never expected to take on the enormous $147.1 million opening weekend that 2015’s “Furious 7” did, with mixed reviews from critics, “Fate of the Furious” barely crossed the $100 million mark. The culprit is Saturday sales, which dipped a steep 32% from its Friday take of $45.8 million (including Thursday previews).
But it’s hard for Universal executives to get too caught up about that, especially in the current era of the business where international box office is arguably more important for studios than US coin.
Also helping the film’s big weekend is being released on 1,079 IMAX screens worldwide, the widest opening ever for a single film in IMAX history. The finally tally was $31.1 million globally on IMAX screens alone, a record for April.
Don’t be surprised if you hear soon the studio announce a ninth film in the franchise (or Vin Diesel make it public to his Facebook fans).
SEE ALSO: Why “Fast and Furious” fans will love “Fate of the Furious,” even though it makes no sense
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from Jason Guerrasio
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