Well, it was a rather uneventful weekend at the domestic box office anyway, as Furious 7 rode what will surely be its last hurrah at the top of the chart with Avengers coming out next week (this was sort of the the calm before the storm), but worldwide, the monster seventh entry in the franchise is still making news, as it crossed the billion dollar mark and surpassed Frozen to become the fifth highest grossing movie of all time. Yes, you read that right- a Fast and Furious movie is now the fifth highest grossing film of all time (unadjusted for inflation of course, which would kick so many of these recent record breaking movies so far down the list as to render it meaningless, at least in my opinion- tickets sold is what really counts in terms of movies that made a cultural impact at the time of release).
In second place was Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, which held off Blake Lively's soapy melodrama The Age of Adaline to snag second place with a $15 million dollar haul- depressingly, not a terrible drop off from last week, which says a lot about the taste of family audiences in this country. Meanwhile, Adaline came in third with $13 million- about in line with the last movie targeting a female audience, the Scott Eastwood one that I can't even remember the name of even though I wrote about it twice (what was it? The Longest something?), and Home and Unfriended rounded out the top five, putting up solid holds from their respective audiences.
Top 5:
- Furious 7- $18.3 million
- Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2- $15.5 million
- The Age of Adaline- $13.3 million
- Home- $8.3 million
- Unfriended- $6.2 million
In limited release, the critically adored Ex Machina expanded to 1500 theaters and grossed over $5 million, while Russell Crowe's directorial debut The Water Diviner bombed with just over $1 million. Next week it's Avengers time, with most predicting the Marvel sequel to surpass its last opening weekend of $200 million, so beware of hysterical theaters with costumed geeks out in full force. Not that it really matters what's opening against it, but a couple of films in limited release are coming out, with the period drama Far From the Madding Crowd and Kristen Wiig's Welcome to Me in case you're looking for alternatives. See you guys next week!
