Weekend box office: Furious 7 does it again

Brad Sturdivant April 26th, 2015

As predicted, FURIOUS 7 won all four weekends it was in theaters before the juggernaut that is AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON. And while Avengers will surely open huge and break records, I think the executives at Universal need a mention for how smart they were to open FURIOUS 7 in early April to avoid the summer onslaught. So once again, FURIOUS 7 takes the weekend box office due to a severe lack of competition. There were two movies this weekend, the first being THE AGE OF ADALINE, which did surprisingly well and took in more than $12 million. For a movie like that, with no real star power, that’s a pretty impressive haul. The other new movie of the weekend was the universally loved EX MACHINA (click the link to read our review). It couldn’t crack $5 million, but again, for what it is, that’s a pretty good haul. I imagine EX MACHINA will do much better on Blu-ray as word of mouth for the film is very positive.

Next week sees the release of the costume drama AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON and the only question really is how much will it make and whether or not it will break the original’s records. Critics seem to love it, but if it has one thing that might not be going for it, it’s that it might not have a lot of re-watchability. That will only matter when we’re talking all time box office records, but maybe a little chink in the impenetrable Marvel armor. We also get the Carey Mulligan starring FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD, which of course has no chance to beat Avengers, but might have a niche with some counter programming to people that don’t want to see the Avengers. Note: the numbers below will be updated as they become final.

1. Furious 7 $16.5m

2. Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 $13.7m

3. The Age of Adaline $12.4m

4. Home $7.9m

5. Unfriended $5.9m

6. Ex Machina $4.8m

7. The Longest Ride $4m

8. Get Hard $3.5m

9. Monkey Kingdom $3.3m

10. Woman in Gold $3.1m

(Deadline)