It was inevitable that Furious 7 would finish in the top spot over the past weekend, the only question was how much would it actually make in its debut. The answer is a whole lot of money.
Furious 7 is like a tidal wave that has been slowly increasing its force, over the past six installments of the action franchise. There was a change in course with the fifth installment. The franchise switched genres and added The Rock, which reinvigorated the cast and crew. The untimely passing of Paul Walker, who died in a fiery car crash, also added to the curiosity and suddenly Furious 7 became a cultural moment for action fans. The seventh film in the series managed to pull off the ninth biggest opening in the history of movies, with an estimated $143.6 million dollars at the box-office. Expect to see the Fast and Furious continue rolling for years to come.
The surprise smash hit Home continued steamrolling in its second week of release. This is a clear case of strong word of mouth powering a film that received mediocre reviews from critics. It also helps that Home is the sole animated feature available for young kids. The movie dropped less than 50% in its second week and managed to make an estimated $27.4 million dollars.
The Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart comedy, Get Hard, had a huge drop in its second week after a very healthy opening. The movie lost over 60% of its audience, bringing in an estimated $12.9 million dollars over the past weekend. However the film was modestly budgeted at $40 million, so expect to see much more from the duo in the near future.
Cinderella continued its magical run with another strong weekend, pulling in $10.2 million dollars in its fourth week of release. It looks like it will hang in the top ten long enough to hand the baton to Avengers: Age of Ultron for Disney. The era of the live-action Disney cartoon is upon us! You better embrace it…because there is a lot more in the pipeline.
Rounding out the fifth spot was Insurgent which added another $10 million dollars to its total in its third week of release. The fact that Furious 7 didn’t totally capsize the sequel, serves as proof that The Divergent Series does indeed have a strong fanbase.
Check out the complete box-office breakdown for April 3rd-5th, 2015:
| TW | LW | Title (click to view) | Studio | Weekend Gross | % Change | Theater Count /Change | Average | Total Gross | Budget* | Week # | |
| 1 | N | Furious 7 | Uni. | $143,623,000 | – | 4,004 | – | $35,870 | $143,623,000 | – | 1 |
| 2 | 1 | Home (2015) | Fox | $27,400,000 | -47.4% | 3,801 | +93 | $7,209 | $95,621,000 | $135 | 2 |
| 3 | 2 | Get Hard | WB | $12,925,000 | -61.8% | 3,212 | +37 | $4,024 | $57,004,000 | $40 | 2 |
| 4 | 4 | Cinderella (2015) | BV | $10,289,000 | -39.6% | 3,404 | -411 | $3,023 | $167,251,000 | $95 | 4 |
| 5 | 3 | The Divergent Series: Insurgent | LG/S | $10,000,000 | -53.6% | 3,442 | -433 | $2,905 | $103,385,000 | $110 | 3 |
| 6 | 5 | It Follows | RTWC | $2,465,000 | -35.3% | 1,655 | +437 | $1,489 | $8,541,000 | – | 4 |
| 7 | N | Woman in Gold | Wein. | $2,004,000 | – | 258 | – | $7,767 | $2,100,000 | – | 1 |
| 8 | 6 | Kingsman: The Secret Service | Fox | $1,700,000 | -42.7% | 1,327 | -458 | $1,281 | $122,260,000 | $81 | 8 |
| 9 | 7 | Do You Believe? | PFR | $1,500,000 | -35.0% | 1,218 | -138 | $1,232 | $9,811,000 | – | 3 |
| 10 | 9 | The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel | FoxS | $1,000,000 | -52.8% | 1,060 | -438 | $943 | $30,059,000 | $10 | 5 |
What did you catch over the weekend? Was it any good? Let us know on the comment boards, , , and !
Source: Box Office Mojo