How many people will see The Fate Of The Furious this weekend? Well… a lot. This sequel doesn’t quite have the heat that Furious 7 had, which led to its 147M opening weekend. That was boosted by a nostalgia trip to see the last film featuring Paul Walker. Starting with the franchises return of Vin Diesel in the 4th film, the series has grown with each entry. I think that stops here, as Furious 7 really set an impossibly high bar. I think Fate Of The Furious will show growth from the sixth film, which is why I think this opens in the low 100M range. It does have Easter Sunday, and the competition is pretty well cleared out. The #2-#4 films are targeting children. The door was always supposed to be wide open for Dom and crew to come in and do some damage, and damage they will.
Fast 4 opened to a then series high of 70M, which was beaten by Fast Five at 86M, then again by Fast 6 at 97M. I think The Fate Of The Furious gets an additional boost because of Furious 7, which helps it land in the 110-120M range. That should help it fly past the 238M made by Fast 6, but it won’t hit the 353M made by Furious 7. In no way does this mean it’s a flop, it’s just that Furious 7 had Paul Walker.
The cast of the Fast franchise are some of the most socially active stars. Both Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson dominate social media, tweeting, and engaging fans on a regular basis. This helps a lot, and is partially why their fanbase is so devoted and strong.
In other news, The Boss Baby should cross 100M on Friday. It will become the 8th film to do so this year, and The Fate Of The Furious will be the 9th. Nine films before May is actually pretty fantastic. The summer adds another heap of 100M grossers. Also, by Sunday, Beauty and the Beast will likely be the 12th highest grossing film of all time. Can it crack the top 10? Sure. As of Sunday, it will only need about 9M more to take the 10th spot from Star Wars.
1) The Fate Of The Furious-115M Weekend, 115M Total
2) The Boss Baby- 15M Weekend, 112M Total
3) Beauty and the Beast- 14M Weekend, 452M Total
4) Smurfs: The Lost Village- 8M Weekend, 25M Total
5) Going In Style- 7M Weekend, 23M Total
6) Ghost In The Shell- 3.5M Weekend, 37M Total
7) Kong: Skull Island- 3.5M Weekend, 161M Total
8) Power Rangers- 3M Weekend, 80M Total
9) Get Out- 3M Weekend, 167M Total
10) Logan- 3M Weekend, 222M Total
