“Fate of the Furious” became the biggest global movie opening of all time after setting a weekend record in China this past weekend. The new picture is the costliest so far, with a budget of $250 million, according to Box Office Mojo easily outspeed the competition in its box-office debut, even as its North American revenue missed estimates. Universal Pictures eighth installment of the franchise, which stars Vin Diesel, was released in 63 countries this weekend, including China and Russia, delivering a worldwide total of about $532 million. That beat “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” whose 2015 international release brought in $529 million, according to ComScore Inc.
In China, where the franchise has a huge fan base, “The Fate” fetched the highest ever three-day opening weekend, grossing 1.33 billion yuan ($192 million), almost double the size of North America opening, according to Universal. That’s also the fastest a film has ever passed the 1 billion yuan mark — the threshold for a hit in China. Previous record-holder, “The Mermaid,” took four days to reach that mark.
“The Fate” was the only new release of the weekend. The movie had been estimated to open at $118 million to $127 million in North America, according to analysts at BoxOfficePro.com and Hollywood Stock Exchange.
With almost double the price of some of the earlier installments. It opened in about 4,300 theaters, which the studio described as the widest non-summer release in North America and its most ambitious.
Before “The Fate of the Furious” was released, the series had already generated $3.9 billion globally, according to Box Office Mojo. “Furious 7,” which reaped $147 million in North America in its opening weekend, still ranks as the biggest April debut on record and the sixth-highest-grossing movie worldwide of all time.
The film has the usual elaborate car chases, this time through the streets of Cuba and across a frozen lake. It was the first major Hollywood picture to shoot in that country in more than 60 years, according to the studio. Diesel reprises the role of car racer Dominic, now married and retired. But Dom encounters a villain named Cipher (played by Theron) who tries to seduce him into a world of crime, setting the team up for a new fight.
The feature scored 65 percent positive reviews, according to aggregator Rottentomatoes.com. The recent installments have improved in quality, receiving much higher scores with critics than the first Four films.
