LOS ANGELES: The speed demons of Fast & Furious 6 raced ahead of the hard-partying Hangover gang in a battle between two male-oriented movie franchises, setting up the car chase sequel for a big holiday weekend win at US and Canadian box offices.
Fast & Furious 6 rang up an estimated $98.5 million in domestic ticket sales from Friday through Sunday and was speeding toward $122.5 million by the end of Monday’s US Memorial Day holiday, distributor Universal Pictures projected.
Comedy sequel The Hangover Part III brought in $42.4 million from Friday through Sunday, according to studio estimates, and was likely to finish with $64 million through Monday, after a Thursday opening.
Last weekend’s box office leader, sci-fi sequel Star Trek Into Darkness, fell to third place with $38 million through Sunday and was headed toward $48 million through Monday.
The movies charged up the North American box office, putting ticket sales on pace for a Memorial Day weekend record. Receipts for all films could reach $323 million through Monday, according to Hollywood.com, shattering the 2011 record of $276.3 million.
“A perfect storm of hits led to this incredible weekend with going out to the movies proving itself to be the first choice for outside-of-the-home entertainment,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Hollywood.com’s box office division.
The sixth installment of Fast & Furious blew past pre-weekend forecasts for $80 million in domestic sales over four days by nearly 50%. The previous five films grossed $1.6 billion combined.
Set in London, the new film stars Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto, a now-retired professional criminal who reunites his crew with US Diplomatic Security Service agent Luke Hobbs, played by Dwayne Johnson. The group works to take down a criminal outfit of mercenary drivers scattered across 12 countries.
The new movie built a massive online fan base with more than 34 million “likes” on Facebook. It cost $160 million to produce.
“And it’s really extraordinary that 49% of the audience is female. Older females really love the film,” said Nikki Rocco, president for domestic distribution at Universal Studios, a unit of Comcast Corp. “Its appeal is very broad and very diverse.”
With the franchise showing no signs of slowing, Universal has already announced the Fast & Furious 7 release for July 2014.
The Hangover Part III, meanwhile, brings the hard-partying saga to a close. The third movie takes friends played by Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis back to Las Vegas for a new round of escapades as they hunt for the elusive and eccentric Mr Chow, played by Ken Jeong.
The weekend’s other new nationwide release, animated family film Epic, landed in fourth place with $34.2 million. In fifth place, blockbuster superhero movie Iron Man 3 from Walt Disney Co’s Marvel Studios earned $19.4 million. Its cumulative global sales topped $1.1 billion, Disney said, the fifth-highest total of all time.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 28th, 2013.
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