Well, this is certainly something of a shock. After Fast and Furious 7 conquered the worldwide box office with over $1.5billion, it was expected that its follow-up, Fast and Furious 8, would go a similar way but what is surprising is how “fast” the film has raced out of the blocks on its opening weekend and “sped” into the record books (via Box Office Mojo).
Beginning with its opening in the US, the eighth installment earned an estimated $98.7million (earlier estimates had the opening slightly higher at around $103million) and while that is down on the 7th film, it’s still a mighty big haul for the film and is the 2nd biggest weekend of the year so far behind Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.
SEE ALSO: Read our review of Fast & Furious 8
While some may say the US opening is slightly disappointing given the previous film’s $147million opener, the film’s have grown beyond the domestic market as its proved with its record-breaking international debut. The previous record-holder, 2015’s Jurassic World, earned $316.7million across the non-domestic territories but has lost its crown after Fast 8 earned a whopping $432.3million over the weekend.
Biggest of all was its debut in China where it took an astounding $190million and secured the largest three-day opening weekend of all time in the country. Add to that around $17million in the UK and the weekend opening for the film is a massive $532.4million, smashing the record set by Star Wars: The Force Awakens by around $3million.
Is there life in the Furious franchise? You betcha, and with parts 9 and 10 already announced (Fast in Space anyone?) it looks like the series is going to continue to rule the planet for a while yet. That is until a certain Last Jedi arrives just in time for Christmas…
Fast and Furious 8 is in cinemas now.
