Vin Diesel And Michelle Rodriguez Visit Washington Heights On Behalf Of 'The Fate Of The Furious' (Photo : Getty Images)
The $192 million box-office launch of “Fate of the Furious” in China helped the eighth installment of the franchise break global box-office records with an opening weekend of $532.5 million. It was made up of $100.2 million in North America and $432.2 million in the U.S.
Given the numbers, the movie now likely holds the record as the third-biggest April debut of all time in North America, said Paul Dergarabedian of comScore, Xinhua News Agency reported. It broke the 2015 record of Disney’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” which was $529 million.
9th & 10th Installment
Because of the success of the "Fast and Furious" franchise, which has so far earned over $3.9 billion globally, Universal said there would be a ninth installment in 2019 and 10th installment in 2021.
For the same Easter weekend, in second place was “The Boss Baby” from Fox and DreamWorks Animation with a box office of $15.5 million. In third place was “Beauty and the Beast” with receipt of $13.6 million.
High-Octane Silliness
While the film is a winner at the tills, some film critics, such as The Guardian, were not impressed by “The Fate of the Furious” which is one of the first Hollywood movies to shoot in Havana, Cuba. Its opening scene, which was a race between a Cuban loan shark and Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) that the latter won, aims for “new levels of high-octane silliness,” the British daily noted.
The review pointed out the film has no shortage of muscle fighting for alpha-male supremacy among Vin Diesel, Jason Statham and Dwayne Johnson. Although the three are considered the “most artificially bronzed men in Hollywood,” The Guardian considers Statham the winner for swaggering away with the movie because of his accessorized fight sequence with a baby that was gurgling while in a travel seat and a cameo from Helen Mirren who plays his mother.
