Furious 7 box office numbers for the premiere were even bigger than expected. Furious 7 has reportedly scored the ninth-biggest Friday of all-time, putting it among some of the big franchise films of recent years. A report from Forbes on Saturday (April 4) estimates that the film made $67.3 million on April 3 alone. That would put the film on pace to earn about $168 million for its premiere weekend.
It was Box Office Mojo that relayed totals from midnight showings, showing that Furious 7 made $15.8 million from the late night viewings on Thursday (April 2) alone. Those numbers are typically added into the Friday draw and carried forward as part of a weekend total. At that point it was already being stated that the film would easily pass the $100 million threshold. After the success of a full day of ticket sales on Friday, the film is heading into uncharted territory for the franchise.
Fast & Furious 6 came out in 2013 and earned $239 million in the United States and $550 million worldwide. The film had improved on the box office numbers of its predecessors and dictated that at least one more movie in the franchise would need to be made. During the filming of Furious 7 , though, Paul Walker died in an off-set car accident. It was previously reported on the Inquisitr that filmed hadn’t been completed and that brothers of Walker were used to finish up some of the scenes.
Vin Diesel and other main cast members of Furious 7 have spoken quite a bit about having to finish filming Furious 7 without their friend Paul Walker. They often referred to him as a family member and that it was a very tough situation to deal with.
It is very clear that the Furious 7 box office numbers will surpass each of the six other movies that came before it in the series. There also weren’t any other major debuts in theaters trying to do battle with it. Dreamworks released the family film Home last week in the hopes of offering viewers something different and the film might just pass the $100 million mark in its second week of release. Home should finish second when in the weekend numbers, but the totals aren’t expected to be close at all.
When it comes to the box office numbers for all the films from The Fast and the Furious franchise, it will be interesting to see if the seventh film can earn more in its first weekend than the first four films earned in each of their runs. The Fast and the Furious made about $144.5 million, 2 Fast 2 Furious made about $127.1 million, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift made about $62.5 million, and Fast and Furious made about $155 million. Fast 5 made an estimated $209.8 million and then Fast & Furious 6 made more than any of the previous films.
Early reports on the Furious 7 box office have also stirred up rumors that an eighth film is going to be made without Paul Walker. While no official announcement has been released, the draw from the seventh movie might be enough to get it done.
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