This Easter weekend saw Hollywood box office sales explode, as “Furious 7” crashed through prior records to open with $143.6 million in sales.
The last movie to star Paul Walker — killed in a speeding car as the movie was being shot — “obliterated the April record-opening weekend record,” said industry analyst Paul Dergarabedian. No other April movie had ever exceeded $100 million in opening weekend sales.
The latest installment in the “Fast and Furious” franchise is the ninth-biggest opener in industry history, Dergarabedian said.
“Going well beyond a pitch perfect marketing campaign and a great release date, the enthusiastic and devoted fan base came out in droves to support the franchise and the late Paul Walker,” the movie analyst said.
“The results are staggering.”
Left in the tire smoke was last weekend’s No. 1 film, “Home,” an animated movie that was on track to sell $27.4 million in North American ticket sales this weekend, according to studio estimates gathered by Rentrak. It has earned nearly $100 million in two weekends.
In third place was “Get Hard,” with an estimated $12.9 million weekend and nearly $60 million in the till since last week.
Rounding out the 10 most-popular films this weekend, as estimated by the studios and collated by Rentrak, were “Cinderella” ($10.3 million), “Divergent Series: Insurgent” ($10 million), “It Follows” ($2.5 million), “Woman In Gold” (debuting with $2 million), “Kingsmen: The Secret Service” ($1.7 million), “Do You Believe” ($1.5 million) and “Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” ($1 million).
— City News Service