The Fate of the Furious, the eighth movie in the Universal tent pole franchise, blazed across the weekend finish line. It topped the domestic box office with over $98 million. That’s a strong number for sure, but it’s a drop of nearly 50% from the previous installment.
And while the numbers suggest American audiences have grown fast and fatigued of the franchise, these films do have traction overseas. The international haul for ‘Fate’ was $433.2 million. Combined, The Fate of the Furious had a record-setting weekend with a worldwide gross of nearly $532 million.
The sexy headlines across the internet this Monday will have you know that ‘Fate’ took the record from Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, which opened worldwide to $529 million. And while this is technically the case, it’s also important to keep in mind that ‘The Force Awakens’ only opened to 46 markets worldwide while ‘Fate’ opened to 63. There are countless variables that play into where and when a particular film will open around the world. The worldwide comparison won’t truly matter until ‘Fate’ runs its theatrical course.
In other box office news, Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast remake has joined the exclusive billion-dollar club. Not adjusted for inflation, the film is now the 22nd highest grossing film of all time.
Here’s the specific breakdown of the top five movies this weekend (provided by Box Office Mojo):
1. The Fate of the Furious
Domestic: $98,786,705 Worldwide: $532
2. The Boss Baby
Domestic: $16,012,349 Worldwide: $288,171,663
3. Beauty and the Beast
Domestic: $13,705,122 Worldwide: $1,043,120,873
4. Smurfs: The Lost Village
Domestic: $6,714,300 Worldwide: $95,245,059
5. Going in Style
Domestic: $6,288,402 Worldwide: $35,318,880
What do you think of our top five this weekend? Are you at all surprised by huge domestic drop-off for the Fast & Furious franchise? Do you think it’ll make more money overall than ‘The Force Awakens’? Let us know in the comments below!
movieminutes.net 