Universal’s “The Fate of the Furious” is dazzling moviegoers worldwide with an estimated $534.2 million in box office in its launch weekend in 65 territories, Saturday estimates showed. Should the estimate hold, it would be the largest worldwide launch weekend of all time, topping “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” at $529 million, “Jurassic World” with $524.9 million and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” with $483.2 million.
Universal’s estimated domestic gross for the weekend is an impressive $103.8 million while the foreign total is a record-setting $430.4 million. The studio reported Friday’s international gross at $112.1 million for an early total of $194.8 million, which includes previews and territories that began launching on Wednesday.
The numbers underline increasing importance of the international box office — especially for costly high-profile tentpoles. Universal spent an estimated $250 million on “The Fate of the Furious” and is already going to see profits by the end of the weekend.
The international weekend estimate of $430.4 million will demolish the record for biggest international weekend by an astounding 36% above Universal’s “Jurassic World,” which took in $316.7 million in its launch weekend. By contrast, the domestic launch for “The Fate of the Furious” is the 38th largest of all time, trailing Illumination-Universal’s “The Secret Life of Pets” at $104.4 million.
China is leading the way with an opening day box office of $65.6 million — biggest single day ever at the Chinese box office. The three-day weekend estimate is $192 million for the biggest three-day opening of all time in the market.
“The Fate of the Furious,” starring Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson, Jason Statham, and Charlize Theron, centers on Diesel’s Dom Toretto character turning his back on his family and joining forces with Theron’s terrorist villain. The movie is directed by F. Gary Gray, who last directed “Straight Outta Compton.”
Universal’s “Furious 7” is the sixth-largest worldwide grosser of all time at $1,516,045,911.
