It was a crazy weekend that Hollywood car-racing blockbuster "The Fate of the Furious" broke a series of records and raised a new stunning box office level.
It was like a volcanic eruption as "The Fate of the Furious," also known "Fast 8," raked in an estimated 1.34 billion yuan (US$194.5 million) in three days, Maoyan.com reported, which set a new record for being the fastest film ever to pass the 1 billion yuan mark in China -- the previous record holder was Stephen Chow's "Mermaid" which grossed more than 1 billion yuan in four days.
"Fast 8" also surpassed the records including the biggest midnight showing (62 million yuan), the biggest opening day gross (412 million yuan on Friday), the biggest single day gross (473 million yuan on Saturday), the largest three-day opening weekend of all time (1.34 billion yuan), as well as the biggest grossing imported foreign film in China for 2017 thus far.
The previous opening records holder was Stephen Chow and Tsui Hark's domestic fantasy movie "Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back," which earned 356 million yuan on its premiere in January this year. The new records are impressive given that "Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back" opened on Lunar New Year's Day, the second day of a holiday week in China, and midnight previews of "Furious 7" were on a Saturday night, while "The Fate of the Furious" opened on a work day.
Its phenomenal performance in China also helped elevate the film's international box office total to a new level. It grossed an estimated US$100.2 million in the North American market, and premiered in over 60 international markets, box office tracking website BoxofficeMojo.com reports.
Combined with the North American opening and China's revenues, the film now has a record US$532.5 million worldwide debut, breaking the previous record of US$529 million held by another titan, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."
With this weekend's earnings, the Fast and Furious franchise has now amassed nearly US$4.5 billion worldwide from all eight of its feature films and there are more to come with "Fast and Furious 9" planned for 2019 and a tenth installment set for a 2021 release.
"The Fate of the Furious," directed by F. Gary Gray and stars Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris Bridges, Nathalie Emmanuel, Kurt Russell, Scott Eastwood, Helen Mirren and Charlize Theron, will challenge its predecessor "Furious 7" which grossed a stunning 2.42 billion yuan (US$391 million) in China and also further challenged the highest grossing film ever in China, "Mermaid," which eventually grossed 3.39 billion yuan (US$517.3 million).
Source: china.org by zhang rui