It was full speed ahead for Furious 7 this week, which obliterated the April record at the North American box office with one of the biggest debuts of all time. The sixth sequel to The Fast and the Furious opened to an eye-popping $143.6 million, the ninth largest opening in domestic box office history. That was about 50% higher than Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which earned $95 million to take the monthly record on this weekend last year. The monstrous opening was also the third biggest weekend take outside of summer, behind the first two Hunger Games films.
The film began its muscular debut with a whopping $67.3 million on Good Friday, including $15.8 million from Thursday evening shows. Furious 7 dropped an expected 31% to earn a remarkable $46.3 million on Saturday and is predicted to drop 35% on Easter Sunday to amass another $30 million.
Without much to excite male moviegoers in March, an energetic marketing campaign and much press surrounding the death of series anchor Paul Walker, Furious 7 was widely expected to open north of $100 million. Nevertheless, to have one of the 10 biggest berths in history is certainly impressive for a franchise that seemed all but dead nine years ago. Furious 7 raced past the huge stars for Fast Five ($86.2 million) and Fast and Furious 6 ($97.4 million) and with an A CinemaScore and few big titles coming out until Avengers: Age of Ultron opens May 1, Furious 7 could be the first film in the franchise to speed past the $300 million mark in North America.
Worldwide, Furious 7 may have been even more impressive. In 63 territories, the action flick made another $240.4 million. The $384 global opening ranks as the fourth biggest of all time, after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and The Avengers. In a reported 26 of those territories, Furious 7 had the biggest debut of all time. With Fast and Furious 6 finishing with nearly $800 million worldwide, perhaps the seventh installment could push through the $1 billion mark.