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Posted April 7, 2015 by Seth Paul in News
 
 

Box Office Weekend: Furious 7 an April Success Story


For anyone who ever said sequels are tired, old, and only a matter of diminishing returns, there is the Fast and the Furious franchise. Only getting more and more critically acclaimed as each new entry comes out, the latest, Furious 7, not only did well with critics, but at an absolutely bang-up estimated weekend of $143.6 million broke numerous April box office records and is already poised to be the highest earner in an already high-earning series. It made mincemeat of Home, the top draw of last week, which pulled in an estimated $27.4 million and is still struggling to make back its $135 million costs. And while it was in second-place last week, Get Furious 7Hard appears to have been almost all but forgotten this weekend with an estimated $12.9 million and, with $57 million in domestic earnings, will probably end up a middling effort at best.

Remaining in fourth, Cinderella, with an estimated $10.3 million, also managed to remain the top earner of the top ten with a domestic gross of $167.3 million, though the live action Disney remake will likely be knocked from that perch by next weekend. The Divergent Series: Insurgent picked up an estimated $10 million and became a modest success thanks to overseas earnings, but will likely make less than the previous film while costing more, which is not a good sign towards future entries in the series. Meanwhile, It Follows, despite its critical acclaim, is still awaiting word on whether it made any money due to an unreported budget. If it follows the pattern of previous horror efforts, its estimated $2.5 million and $8.5 million gross may not be too bad, but it is still a lackluster effort even compared to the poorly received The Lazarus Effect.

Mixed results and poor box office are what are greeting Woman in Gold, the latest from The Weinstein Company and their infamous lack of reported budget numbers. Even so, the true-life drama, starring Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds, cannot ignore that regardless of costs, an estimated $2 million opening weekend is unlikely to spell much good for its future performance. Kingsman: The Secret Service, on the other hand, nearly picked up that much ($1.7 million estimated) to add to what is most assuredly a successful run at the box office…at least, counting all of its excellent foreign box office.

In the last two places, Do You Believe? remains a minor player at best and a likely flop, an estimated $1.5 million adding up to $9.8 million on total revenue, while in tenth, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and its estimated $1 million are far less successful than many on the list, but at only $10 million to make and $30.1 million in domestic gross, is still a success on its own terms.

Weekend Box Office (April 3rd – April 5th)

  1. Furious 7…$143.6 million
  2. Home…$27.4 million
  3. Get Hard…$12.9 million
  4. Cinderella…$10.3 million
  5. The Divergent Series: Insurgent…$10 million
  6. It Follows…$2.5 million
  7. Woman in Gold…$2 million
  8. Kingsman: The Secret Service…$1.7 million
  9. Do You Believe?…$1.5 million
  10. The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel…$1 million
Seth Paul

Seth Paul

When not failing to write novels and screenplays, box-office guru Seth writes humorous comedy tracks for films under the name "The One Man Band" that can be found at Rifftrax.com. Although, he has recently succeeded in writing the novella "Jack Alan and the Case of the Not-Exactly Rocket Scientists," available as an eBook on Amazon. He is also the English voice of Zak in "Zak McKracken: Between Time and Space."