Box Office Preview: ‘Furious 7’ Projected to Win with $150M+

Universal’s Furious 7 is projected to earn a record-breaking $150 million+ from 4,004 theaters, according to analyst estimates.

The film, starring Dwayne Johnson, Vin Diesel and the late Paul Walker, will likely set a record for the largest opening in North America since fall 2013 and the best April showing of all time. Currently, the April record-holder belongs to Marvel-Disney’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which opened with $95 million on the same weekend last year.

Furious 7  took off with an outstanding $67.3 million on Friday, with $15.8 million of that from Thursday night showings. With it being the only wide release set for this weekend, the action film has no competition for the No. 1 spot. The popularity of the street-racing series is greatly aiding in the film’s massive success, however, this time around, there’s more interest because of Walker’s death.

Universal was originally planning to release Furious 7 for July 11, 2014, but production was halted when Walker died in a vehicular accident in 2013 during the Thanksgiving hiatus. Director James Wan used CGI, voice effects, and Walker’s brothers, Caleb and Cody, in order to keep his character, Brian O’Connor, in the film long enough to complete the storyline.

Thus far, Furious 7 has been receiving positive reviews, with an 82 percent “fresh” rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. The story follows Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) seeking revenge against Dominic Toretto (Diesel) and his family for the death of his brother.

The previous film from the franchise, Fast & Furious 6, debuted with an outstanding $117 million domestically over the four-day Memorial Day weekend back in 2012, and totaled with $788.77 million worldwide.