Universal’s ‘Furious 7’ takes first place at the domestic box office with $18.3 million; a week ahead of its U.S. Marvel tentpole ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ debuts in 44 international markets, earning $201.2 million.
For the fourth weekend in a row, Universal’s Furious 7 took first place at the domestic box office with $18.3 million, pushing the film’s domestic total to $320.5 million. The last movie to hold on to the top spot for four weekends in a row was The Hunger Games back in March/April of 2012.
Thanks to its record-setting performance in China, Furious 7, the final film featuring the late Paul Walker, is now just the third movie ever to earn over $1 billion overseas. Furious 7 passed Transformers: Age of Extinction to become the highest-grossing movie ever there this weekend. Through 15 days, it has earned $323 million, and could be on its way to $400 million before the end of its run.
Overall, Furious 7 added $69.7 million this weekend to bring its international total to just over $1 billion. The only other two movies to reach that milestone are Titanic and Avatar (both from director James Cameron). Furious 7 now ranks fifth all-time worldwide with $1.32 billion, and is on track to move up to fourth place ahead of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 by the end of the week.
Meanwhile, A week ahead of its U.S. release, Avengers: Age of Ultron debuted in 44 international markets, earning $201.2 million. In nearly all of those markets, the Marvel tentpole opened above The Avengers and Iron Man 3.
Age of Ultron’s top market was South Korea, where its $28.2 million debut ranked second all-time. (A large portion of the movie is set in South Korea.) The film was also huge in the U.K., where it scored the biggest superhero debut ever with $27.3 million.
It also opened to $16.2 million in Russia, which is neck-and-neck with Furious 7 for the top opening ever. It was second all-time in Brazil ($13.1 million) and third all-time in Australia ($13.1 million). Other top markets included France ($12.4 million) and Germany ($9.3 million).
A handful of other major territories are still on the way, including Spain and Mexico. China, which is sure to be the movie's biggest market, doesn't open until May 12th. Three years ago, the first Avengers made over $86 million in China, and given how that market has changed in the years since Age of Ultron is easily on track to make $200 million.
Sony’s Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 held on to second place at the domestic box office for the second weekend in a row with $15.5 million. The movie has now grossed $44 million, surpassing its $30 million production budget, and appears to be in line to finish above $75 million.
Lionsgate’s Age of Adaline opened in third place, taking in a pleasing $13.4 million for its debut. Directed by Lee Toland Krieger, the film stars Blake Lively and Harrison Ford along with Michiel Huisman, Ellen Burstyn, Amanda Crew and Kathy Baker. The fantasy romance, costing $30 million to produce, had been projected to earn $12 million.
DreamWorks Animation’s Home once again took fourth place with $8.3 million, down just 22 percent from last week. Now in its fifth week at the box office, the animated feature has now earned $153.8 million. Overseas Home has made a total of $145.3 million for a global tally of $299.1 million.
Universal and Blumhouse Production’s R-rated micro-budget horror movie Unfriended fell 61 percent over its sophomore weekend to $6.24 million and a fifth place finish. The movie has now grossed $25.2 million, and will likely wind up making just under $35 million.
After two weeks in limited release, British sci-fi thriller Ex Machina expanded to 1,255 locations this weekend, taking sixth place with $5.44 million. Written and directed by Alex Garland with a budget of $16.4 million, the film is centered around a young programmer who is selected to participate in a breakthrough experiment in artificial intelligence by evaluating the human qualities of a breathtaking female A.I. The A24 release has made $6.9 million in three weeks, and the indie label plans to continue to add locations in the coming weeks.
Fox 2000’s The Longest Ride came in seventh place with $4.4 million, pushing the film’s domestic take to $30.4 million.
Warner Bros.' R-rated comedy Get Hard came in eighth place, taking in $3.9 million for a domestic total of $84.1 million. Internationally, the Will Ferrell-Kevin Hart comedy has made $15.7 million for a global total of $99.8 million.
Disney's Disneynature documentary Monkey Kingdom placed at number nine for its sophomore weekend, taking in $3.6 million from 2,012 theaters for a domestic total of $10.3 million.
Rounding out the list at number 10 is The Weinstein Company’s Woman in Gold, which made $3.5 million over its fourth week out. Starring Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds, the drama has now made a total of $21.6 million at the domestic box office.
Box office numbers were obtained on boxofficemojo.com.
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
