Friday Estimates: Fate Set for All-Time Worldwide Weekend Record

April 15, 2017

The Fate of the Furious

As expected, The Fate of the Furious dominated at the domestic box office on Friday, earning $45.6 million. This is not the best opening-day record for the franchiseFurious 7 owns that with $67.41 million—and it is almost a third lower than the previous installment, but if it manages the same legs, it will earn just under $100 million over the weekend. Universal is estimating an opening weekend of $103.8 million. Granted, this film’s reviews are 15 points lower than Furious 7’s, and that should hurt its legs. On the other hand, both films earned a solid A from CinemaScore. In fact, every film in the franchise since Fast Five has earned an A from CinemaScore. Consistency. A drop like this is troubling, but it is more than made up for by the film’s international performance…

Universal reports it had the biggest opening day of all time in 16 territories: Argentina, China, Colombia, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Israel, Lebanon, Malaysia, Middle East, Pakistan, Peru, Portugal, South Africa, U.A.E. and Venezuela. In China, it earned $65.6 million on Friday and it is predicted to open with $192 million over the weekend—an all-time Chinese record, and the fourth-best weekend ever in a single territory, after the three domestic $200 million-openers.

That Chinese number will help Fate of the Furious become the third film to earn over $500 million on a single weekend globally. Universal’s all-time high is Jurassic World, with $524.4 million. The overall record is held by Star Wars: The Force Awakens with $529 million. Based on current tracking, The Fate of the Furious should top both of them with $534.2 million, making it the biggest weekend in history at the global box office.

The Boss Baby hit $100 million on Thursday before adding $6.54 million on Friday. Earning just over $16 million over the weekend will keep it on pace to crack $150 million domestically. It is doing even better internationally, so it will break even during its initial push onto the home market.

Beauty and the Beast earned $5.10 million on Friday and should earn just over $15 million over the weekend. The film crossed $1 billion worldwide, which is enough to pay for its entire production budget, its global advertising budget, and likely a big chunk of whatever live action adaptation Disney greenlights next.

Smurfs: The Lost Village held on a little better than expected with $2.9 million over the weekend, putting it on pace for close to $8 million over the weekend.

Going in Style was right behind with $2.1 million on Friday and will finish the weekend with just under $7 million.

- Fate of the Furious Comparisons

Filed under: Friday Estimates, Smurfs: The Lost Village, The Boss Baby, Beauty and the Beast, The Fate of the Furious, Fast and the Furious