It was close (and it wasn't in first on Friday), but Furious 7 ended up revving once again (for the last time), holding the top spot for a fourth-straight weekend. Having its strongest hold yet, the latest entry in the blockbuster franchise was off just 37% to $18.3 million, for a massive $320.5 million in 24 days. Furious 7 is the first movie in 3 years to top the box office for four-straight weekends (the last being The Hunger Games in 2012), and now ranks in the Top 40 biggest movies ever domestically. Next weekend will spell trouble for the road rage pic as some certain spandex-wearing superheroes will arrive in theaters, but that doesn't really matter to Universal at this point. They've got the biggest hit in their history.Overseas has been the biggest shocker for Furious 7, though, as Paul Walker's last film became only the third movie ever in history to pass $1 billion overseas, behind James Cameron's unstoppable twosome of Avatar and Titanic. China has continued to dazzle and drop many jaws, as the gross from that market has edged out the domestic gross ($323 million vs. $320.5 million). On an overall worldwide basis, Furious 7 passed Iron Man 3 and Frozen to become the fifth-biggest movie of all-time worldwide in just four weeks of release. At $1.32 billion worldwide and counting, the film will pass Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part II to take fourth place, and has a small chance at challenging the first Avengers for third place (though that movie's sequel could spoil that chance).
Regardless, Furious 7 will go down as one of the year's major breakouts.
Following a very good debut last week, Paul Blart - Mall Cop 2 held on surprisingly well given its atrocious reviews. Kevin James' latest fell just 35% to $15.5 million, repeating in a close second place. 2 is at $44 million in 10 days, and while that's far behind the first movie's $64 million pick-up through its 10th day, its still very solid regardless. Mall Cop 2 will surpass James' last movie, Here Comes the Boom tomorrow. And unless it completely falls apart against next week's tidal wave (I will talk about later), it stands a decent chance at closing ahead of Zookeeper ($80 million).
Meanwhile, debuting in third place, as expected, was the fantastical romance The Age of Adaline. The intriguing concept did pull in good numbers, $13.4 million ($4,472 per-venue average), which was slightly ahead of expectations. Considering that studios usually dump movies they have little confidence in on this weekend usually, Adaline did quite well. Reviews were mixed, while the CinemaScore was a good "A-". Adaline appeals to an audience (the audience was 75% female and 58% over 25 years of age) that doesn't usually show up for superhero flicks, so it could very well prove to have good sustainability through May (though Hot Pursuit and Pitch Perfect 2 could also very well have something to say about that). Distributor Lionsgate produced it for $30 million.Remaining in fourth place, Home held on strongly, as DreamWorks Animation's latest was down a slim 22% to $8.3 million in its fifth weekend. The surprise hit has pulled in $153.8 million in one month of release. With its focus being on kids too young for superheroes, Home looks to have one of next weekend's lighter holds (The Croods was off just 37% in the face of Iron Man 3). Like most other horror films, Unfriended, despite solid critical reception, fell 61% to $6.2 million, for a decent, but unspectacular $25.2 million gross in 10 days. The cyber horror flick will probably end up close to $35 million.
Expanding to 1,255 locations, the critically-adored sci-fi flick Ex Machina earned a very solid $5.4 million, for a fair $4,335 per-venue average. Since its limited release three weeks ago, Ex Machina has earned a decent $6.9 million, and is set to play well over the next few weeks (these types of arthouse films usually have good holds in the face of blockbuster fare).
Despite competition from Adaline, The Longest Ride recovered nicely this weekend, off 38% to $4.4 million. But the Nicholas Sparks adaptation has only managed $30.4 million in 17 days and may not hit $40 million by the time its done. Get Hard was off just 21% to $3.9 million, as the Kevin Hart and Will Ferrell jailbird flick has earned a very good $84.1 million in one month of release.
Disneynature's Monkey Kingdom had a strong hold in its second weekend, off just 22% to $3.6 million, for a decent, if unspectacular $10.3 million pick-up in 10 days. In comparison, Bears was also off just 22% to a similar number, and had earned $1 million more through the same point. Rounding out the Top 10 in its fourth weekend was Woman in Gold, which was off a light 24% to $3.5 million, for a very solid $21.6 million in 24 days.
Meanwhile, faith-based flick Little Boy, despite a solid $1.4 million opening day, crashed on Saturday and Sunday, ending up in 13th place with $2.8 million, in line with expectations and averaging a minor $2,708 from 1,045 locations. That was a little bit behind Do You Believe? from last month. Negative reviews won't help this hold onto its screens beyond next week.
Just ahead of Little Boy, Insurgent was off just 25% to $3.1 million, while Cinderella was down just 29% to $2.9 million. Grosses stand at a respectable $124.9 million in six weeks, and $190.6 million in seven weeks. The latter will get a boost next week from playing with another huge Disney-released movie opening Thursday.
And that movie is, Avengers: Age of Ultron, which will kick off the Summer movie season this Thursday. Overseas, however, the superhero sequel truly lit the box office on fire, earning a massive $201 million from just 55 percent of the international marketplace. That's ahead of the first Avengers $185 million overseas debut, and Iron Man 3's $195 million overseas debut, and overall, 44% ahead (in local currency) of the former's numbers in most of the territories. Domestically, Age of Ultron could top the first Avengers' record-smashing $207 million opening weekend. But with early reviews surprisingly not being as good as the first time around (its at 79% on Rotten Tomatoes vs. the first movie's 93% score), it'll be close. Time will tell if history will be made next weekend.
