“Furious 7” had a massive $146.5 million debut at the U.S. box office over the weekend, but the automotive thriller is also speeding through box office records around the world.
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The Universal picture starring Vin Diesel, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Paul Walker, who died during production, pulled in an estimated $240.4 million at the international box office over the weekend, and was the #1 film in every territory where it was released.
Combining the U.S. and international totals, the film ended its first weekend with $384 million in ticket sales.
The film, which goes by the title “Fast & Furious 7” outside the U.S., represents Hollywood’s third highest grossing international opening weekend ever. The only two bigger franchises are “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.”
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“Furious 7” was also the highest-grossing global opening of 2015 to date.
Box Office Mojo called the $240 million total “incredible” — “and that’s without any help from China, Japan and Russia, where it will open in the next few weeks.”
Since 2001, “The Fast and the Furious” has been a growing franchise for Universal, the movie studio division of NBCUniversal.
It is now a $2.7 billion global brand.
And “Furious 7” is the biggest installment yet. Even though “Furious 7” is only a few days old, it currently sits third on the highest worldwide gross for the series, behind only 2011’s “Fast Five” and 2013’s “Fast & Furious 6.”
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And “Furious 7” is far from finished. The Russian opening is on April 9 and the Chinese opening is on April 12. Those markets could push the film toward $1 billion in worldwide ticket sales.
