‘The Fate of the Furious’ Tops Box Office, Shatters International Records
Charlize Theron and Vin Diesel star in "The Fate of the Furious" now playing (Photo by Universal Pictures).
LOS ANGELES — The newest installment in Universal Pictures’ “The Fast and the Furious” franchise is on the way to making biggest worldwide opening of all time, beating the blockbusters “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “Jurassic World.”
Universal estimates that “The Fate of the Furious” will earn a record-breaking $532.5 million worldwide weekend box office due to its strong numbers in 63 territories, including China.
The numbers show it would best current record holder, Disney’s “The Force Awakens,” which opened to $529 million in December 2015 worldwide, but without China.
The film broke the record for biggest international weekend ever, with an estimated $432.3 million. “Jurassic World” had the previous record with $316.7 million.
In the U.S., “The Fate of the Furious” earned an estimated $100.2 million from 4,310 North American theaters which is the second best for the franchise and enough to easily top the domestic box office, but well below the $147.2 million opening of 2015’s “Furious 7.”
“Furious 7” had a huge groundswell of support due to the death of actor Paul Walker, who played cop-turned-street racer Brian O'Conner who appeared in all six films at the time. He was killed in an off-set car crash in 2014 while production of the movie was underway.