Universal’s Furious 7 is dominating the box office, scoring an additional $60.6 million from 4,022, and totaling out to $252.2 million domestically. Globally, the film has soared over $800.5 million after just 12 days in theaters.
Audiences flocked to theaters to see the late Paul Walker in one of his final roles. The actor passed away in a car crash in 2013, and so with the use of CGI, voice effects, and stand-ins, his character was able to remain in order to complete the storyline.
“That’s the emotional current running through the movie, and it’s what’s helping it hold up and play better than any of the other films in the franchise,” said Phil Contrino, vice president and chief analyst at BoxOffice.com.
The weekend’s new wide release was The Longest Ride with $13.5 million from 3,132 locations, falling in third place after Furious 7 and Home. The latter, Fox and DreamWorks Animation’s family feature, took in an additional $19 million, accumulating $129.5 million domestically.
Fox’s The Longest Ride appealed mostly to older women and played best in the Midwest, the South and Mountain States. Moviegoers, who were 73 percent female, 43 percent over the age of 34 and 24 percent were over the age of 50, gave the film an A CinemaScore, while critics gave it a 29 percent “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The Nicholas Spark’s drama bested 2014’s The Best of Me ($10 million), but fell behind Safe Haven ($21.4 million), The Lucky One ($22.5 million) and Dear John ($30.5 million).
“We know this connected with a broader Sparks fan base than the last film did, and like The Notebook [$13.5 million debut], it earned an A CinemaScore,” said Fox distribution chief Chris Aronson.
In fourth place at the box office is Warner Bros.’ Get Hard with over $8.6 million in its third week in theaters. Rounding out the top five is Cinderella’s $12.6 million, pushing its worldwide total to $436.8 million.
Top 10 Films at Weekend Box Office: April 10-12
- Furious 7— $60.6 million
- Home — $19 million
- The Longest Ride — $13.5 million
- Get Hard — $12.9 million
- Cinderella — $7.23 million
- Divergent Series: The Insurgent— $6.9 million
- Woman In Gold — $5.9 Million
- It follows — $2.03 Million
- Danny Collins — $1.6 million
- While We’re Young — $1.4 million
