For all that “Furious 7” has achieved during its record-breaking run — it will cross the $300 million mark at the domestic box office Thursday — there are still a few that appear safe from Universal’s blockbuster action sequel.
The James Wan-directed muscle car epic will be going for its fourth straight win at the box office this weekend, and it has a good shot against two smaller films: the Blake Lively fantasy romance “The Age of Adaline” and the faith-based World War II saga “Little Boy.”
But the record for consecutive weekend wins is well out of range for “Furious 7,” and there’s a big reason.
Disney and Marvel’s “Avengers: The Age of Ultron” will kick off the summer season next week, and is expected to challenge the $207 million opening weekend record set by the original “Avengers” in 2012. Even Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez and the “Furious 7” gang won’t stop the superhero sequel.
The consecutive weekend record is currently held by “Titanic,” which opened just before Christmas in 1997 and held the top spot for 15 straight weekends, according to Box Office Mojo. “Beverly Hills Cop” and “Tootsie” stayed on top for 13 weekends in 1984 and 1982, and “Home Alone” led for 12 straight weeks. All those films opened in November or December however, not the crowded spring and summer corridor.
“Furious 7” will still have written a lengthy chapter in the box-office record book. It set the speed mark for reaching $1 billion at the worldwide box office last week, achieving the milestone in 17 days. With $250 million in eight days, it’s pacing to be China’s top-grossing film ever, ahead of the $301 million grossed by “Transformers: The Age of Extinction,” and could even top $1 billion in overseas take alone. The action sequel, which also starred the late Paul Walker, is already Universal’s top-grossing film ever, as well as its biggest opener and widest release.
The all-time top grossing movies globally are James Cameron‘s “Avatar” and “Titanic,” with $2.7 billion and $2.1 billion respectively, and those marks appear out of reach. “Furious 7” is seventh on the list of all-time moneymakers worldwide at $1.15 billion, with roughly $300 million domestically and $858 million overseas. The No. 6 movie “Iron Man 3” ($1.21 billion) and No. 5 “Frozen” ($1.27 billion) are within range, so “Furious 7” could finish fourth behind “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2” ($1.34 billion) by the end of the coming weekend.
Its $147 million domestic opening ranks as the biggest ever at Easter and in the month of April, and its $397.2 million worldwide haul that first weekend was the second-best ever, behind “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” ($483 million). “Furious 7” was the highest grossing domestic, international ($250 million) and worldwide openings in Universal history by a large margin.