This weekend marked the final doldrums before the Summer movie season begins in earnest with Avengers Age Of Ultron this Friday (though it already opened in foreign markets, where it has already earned $201.2 million, 44% more than the first Avengers – which still holds the all-time highest-grossing domestic opening weekend by a large margin, with $207 million). Domestically speaking, Furious 7 dominated a weak field where the most notable new release was Blake Lively in Age of Adaline [citation needed].
[Furious 7] took the top spot at the weekend box office with $18.2 million, becoming the first film to come in first for four consecutive weekends since “The Hunger Games” in March of 2012. “Furious 7″ is one of only 29 films to pull off the feat. [Fox News]
Furious 7 hasn’t just crossed the fabled $1.275 billion worldwide mark, surpassing the likes of Iron Man 3 and Frozen, it has earned over $1 billion overseas alone. Why does that matter? Because it has surpassed Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part II ($960.5m) to become the third-biggest overseas grosser of all time, behind Titanic ($1.5b) and Avatar ($2.027b). So yes, James Wan’s Furious 7 is now the biggest overseas box office hit not directed by James Cameron in history. [Forbes]
Paul Blart 2, meanwhile, only fell 35% in its second weekend, having thus far earned $44 million on its $30 million budget, which was probably offset by how much Sony must’ve made from the Wynn Casino for all the product placement.
“Ex Machina” solidified its place among the year’s biggest specialty hits, expanding from 39 to 1,255 screens and earning $5.4 million in the process. The A24 release has made $6.9 million in three weeks. [Fox News]
I reviewed that one this week, and along with It Follows, it’s another “specialty hit” where I can’t tell what about it exactly wasn’t supposed to translate for Joe Sixpack and Jane Boonesfarm. It was about a ginger who wants to bang a sexy robot, not a meditation on Sartre. I would never argue that Americans aren’t dumb, but in some ways we’re not even allowed to be smart.
As for Avengers: Age Of Ultron‘s opening, which is sure to be the top story next week and beyond…
Among Ultron’s significant releases this weekend were France, Italy, Germany, the UK, Russia, Australia, Korea, Argentina and Brazil.
Korea, which was the 6th biggest overseas market for Avengers, was the top weekend play with $28.2M followed by the UK ($27.3M), Russia ($16.2M), Brazil ($13.1M) and Australia ($13.1M).
More on Korea:
Korea: At $28.2M, the biggest Western industry opening weekend of all time and 2nd biggest industry opening weekend ever with a heroic 91% market share and a start that is 106% above Avengers and 37% above Iron Man 3. [Deadline]
At a 91% market share, it’s not sharing at all, am I right? (*bow tie spins, hit with sledgehammer*)