It’s rare when a film makes significantly less than its Sunday estimate, but it’s even more rare when the same picture overperforms on the same figure. That’s what makes the actual box office receipts for “Fast Five” so remarkable. When all the ticket sales were tallied, the fifth film in “The Fast and Furious” franchise ended up with $86.1 million in its debut weekend. The original estimate was for $83.6 million. That’s an impressive difference of $2.5 million or what “Source Code” made in its fifth week in theaters.
The day by day for “Fast Five” broke down to $34.3 million on Friday (including $3.7 million from Midnights), $29.9 million on Saturday and a Sunday date of $21.8 million. “Five” should do at least another $20 million Monday through Thursday and with an expected 50% drop this upcoming weekend may find itself close to $150 million domestic in just 10 days. Considering “Five” has already found $81.4 million overseas before going wide this week, Justin Lin’s thriller has a legitimate shot at hitting $500 million globally when all is said and done. The last chapter in the “Furious” series, “Fast and Furious,” grossed only $353 million worldwide. No doubt, a sixth ride is definitely in order.
“Five” will face competition from the wide release of “Thor” this Friday. The Marvel Studios tentpole is currently looking at $70-75 million for the three-day, but doesn’t have the same appeal to younger women as “Fast Five” does.
Other new releases include “Jumping the Broom,” “Something Borrowed’ and in limited release, “The Beaver.”