LOS ANGELES, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Universal's "The Fate of the Furious" smashed global box office records with an estimated 532.5 million U.S. dollars, setting a new high-water mark for an opening weekend.
The eighth film in the "Fast and Furious" franchise revved up and hit the gas with a debut weekend of 100.2 million U.S. dollars in North America and 432.2 million U.S. dollars overseas. If estimates hold, this is the third biggest April debut of all time in North America, according to record books kept by comScore's Paul Dergarabedian.
Global appeal is truly at the heart of the success of this franchise and this eighth installment is no exception. Thanks to an all-time best China launch of 192 million U.S. dollars, the film, directed by F. Gary Gray, broke the record worldwide launch of Disney's "Star Wars: the Force Awakens" which nabbed 529 million U.S. dollars in 2015.
With the latest release, "Fast and Furious" films have collectively grossed more than 3.9 billion U.S. dollars globally. Universal has already announced a ninth and tenth installment for 2019 and 2021.
DreamWorks Animation and Fox's "The Boss Baby" was a distant second place, bringing in an estimated 15.5 million U.S. dollars to push its gross to 116.3 million U.S. dollars in North America.
Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" landed in third place with an estimated 13.6 million U.S. dollars. The film crossed the one billion U.S. dollars mark in worldwide sales.
Sony Corp.'s "Smurfs: The Lost Village" landed in fourth place with an estimated 6.5 million U.S. dollars. Warner Bros.' "Going in Style" finished fifth with an estimated 6.35 million U.S. dollars in its second weekend.
