- Fast Five's opening weekend haul in North America is a stupendous $83.6 million.
- That's the best opening in April for a movie ever - beating out its 2009 F&F predecessor, Fast & Furious.
- That's the biggest opening weekend box office for any movie ever released by Universal Studios.
- The Fast and the Furious is now Universal's most successful film franchise, beating out the Jaws, Abbott & Costello, Ma and Pa Kettle and Francis The Talking Mule movies.
HOLLYWOOD, California — Argue all you want about the artistic merits of Fast Five, there's no arguing with its box office haul. After a crushing box office performance when it opened last week in Britain, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea, it opened in North America last Friday and swamped the competition. According to Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood, Fast Five made an absolutely staggering $83.6 million during its opening weekend on this continent.
To put that in perspective, in 2009 Fast & Furious opened with a $71 million weekend and set a record for any film ever opening in April. Fast Five obviously blows that away. It's also the highest opening weekend ever for a film from Universal Studios, overwhelming the $72.1 million brought in by Lost World: Jurassic Park back in 1997 (not inflation adjusted). It's easily the biggest opening for any film during 2011 so far — bigger even than the combined take for the cartoons Rio ($39.2 million) and Hop ($37.5 million) which had been 2011's top two until Fast Five.
Combine the foreign and domestic box offices together and as of May 1 Fast Five has already made $165 million. And the audiences that have seen it, love it. According to CinemaScore (a market research firm which surveys moviegoers and asks them to grade films from "A" to "F"), Fast Five rates an "A" from audiences in general and a stunning "A+" from moviegoers under the age of 18. The projections, says Finke, have Fast Five finishing its theatrical run after having grossed a total of $500 million — that's $200 million in North American and $300 million overseas.
Like it or not, and for better or worse, Fast Five is already a defining film for the world's automotive culture. It will be a touchstone for the next generation of gearheads and motorminds. That's why Inside Line has devoted so much space, time and effort into covering it comprehensively. It's why Inside Line is likely to devote the similar resources to the sixth, seventh and eighth entries in The Fast and the Furious film franchise which all seem inevitable now.
But for now, we can take a breather. We're done writing about Fast Five. Probably.
Inside Line says: This doesn't mean anyone wants to see Vin Diesel and Paul Walker in any other movies. — John Pearley Huffman, Vindicated
Add A Comment »
ed124c says:
11:51 AM, 05/02/2011
It does look like a lot of improbable fun. I have only seen the first one, I think. Guess I will need to watch it in the next few weeks. My only fear is that after watching this movie, my already diminishing brain cells will have taken an even bigger hit.
mikestroh says:
09:33 AM, 05/02/2011
Well....lets analize the movie folks....it has hot looking cast (male and female: to attract both sexes) lots of action.....awesome vehicles...it's a perfect movie combination. So it equates to box office success. Good plot or no plot....you have to realize.....we live in an "instant gratification" society now so this type of movie caters to that type of mentality. I'm definitely not hating on my bi Vin D. ride the wagon until the wheels fall off my friend.
raylo993 says:
08:42 AM, 05/02/2011
Did they buy tickets to see Vin and Paul or the cars or both.....whatever??