(Variety) Hollywood action film, “The Fate of the Furious” passed the $300 million mile-post on the evening of Saturday at the Chinese box office.
Data from local tracking agency China Box Office, showed that “The Fast and the Furious 8,” as it is known in China, had accumulated RMB2.07 billion by 10 p.m. With an exchange rate of RMB6.9 to the dollar, that means the box office landmark has been achieved in just nine days.
While “Fast 8” is now decelerating, it continues to lead the Chinese box office in its second week. It is also now the biggest film of 2017 in China, having overtaken “Kung Fu Yoga,” which earned $255 million from a Chinese New Year release.
As expected it brushed aside competition from Hollywood new release “Smurfs: The Lost Village.”
On Saturday, “Fast 8” accounted for some 65% of grosses, compared with 14% for “Smurfs” and 9% for Chinese romantic comedy “Mr Pride vs Ms Prejudice,” in third place with 9%.
Stiffer competition will come next weekend when several other Chinese films will release ahead of the May Day national holiday. But if “Fast 8” can overcome them, its stands a decent chance of racing far past “Fast 7.”
The previous film in the franchise briefly held China’s national box office record. It scored RMB2.42 billion. That total was reported as $380 million at 2015 rates of exchange. At current rates the target is $351 million.
Source: Variety by Patrick Frater