By AI Creative Media
Universal Pictures
Its a massive weekend for Diesel and company this weekend at the boxoffice, as ‘Fate of the Furious’ speeds ahead of ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ with global opening weekend boxoffice record. Final numbers are yet to be released, but estimates this morning put the action-thriller at of $532.5 million, ahead of Awakens’ $529 million. Furious achieve the feat despite declining domestic gross, underlining the importance of global market in Hollywood, especially in China where Furious grossed $190m this weekend (China was not part of Awakens’ weekend debut).
“There is no market that hasn’t had a strong reception,” said Duncan Clark, Universal’s president of international distribution. “Whatever culture, whatever language, whatever country, we seem to have found a home.”
Furious is also the second 2017 film to cross the $100m domestic barrier, after last month’s Beauty and the Beast.
That said, Diesel announced early last year that more movies in the Fast and Furious franchise are planned for release in 2019 and 2021. Distributed by Universal Pictures, the series began with the late Paul Walker in the 2001 film ‘The Fast and the Furious’.
