LOS ANGELES -- Furious 7 finished atop the box office for the third consecutive weekend with about $29.2 million in ticket sales in U.S. and Canadian theaters, but it was the international market that pushed the Universal Pictures film to be the highest grossing release worldwide in the studio's 103-year history.
As domestic sales reached about $295 million, according to studio estimates, Furious 7 raised its total for 67 territories abroad to an estimated $858.3 million, for a global total of $1.15 billion. The previous record holder for Universal was Jurassic Park in 1993, which made about $1 billion worldwide.
Overseas, Furious 7 is a phenomenon. It has become the highest grossing film ever released in Indonesia, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam. In China, the film has brought in more than $250 million and already is the second highest grossing American film in the country behind Transformers: Age of Extinction, which finished its run last year with $320 million.
"It's still a humbling experience," said Nicholas Carpou, Universal's head of domestic distribution. "The movie continues to surprise."
Directed by James Wan, the film cost Universal Pictures about $190 million to make. It takes a diverse ensemble including Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, Chris Ludacris Bridges, Jason Statham, Dwayne Johnson and Michelle Rodriguez from London to Los Angeles, Tokyo, the Dominican Republic and Abu Dhabi.
After the death of Walker midway through production, the studio completed Walker's remaining scenes using computer effects and Walker's brothers Caleb and Cody as stand-ins. The result: positive reviews that, coupled with a strong franchise fan base, have fueled moviegoers to see the film more than once.
"When you have a satisfying movie, there's a great opportunity to revisit it and also an opportunity for a broader fan base to discover it," Carpou said. "I think people see it multiple times with different sets of friends so they can share the experience. When movies can do that, it propels them into another orbit."
The film received an A grade from audience polling firm CinemaScore. Critics were almost as warm, giving the film a solid 82 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
In second place this weekend, Columbia Pictures' Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 exceeded studio and tracking expectations and debuted with about $24 million.
The sequel, which cost a relatively modest $30 million to make, stars Kevin James reprising his role as a security guard. Directed by Andy Fickman and released six years after its predecessor, the film follows Blart while he is on vacation with his family in Las Vegas. It co-stars Shirley Knight, Raini Rodriguez and Neal McDonough.
Critics were not kind.
Fellow new release Unfriended, also from Universal, rounded out the top three with about $16 million.
The budget for the horror film was just $1 million. The R-rated film about cyber bullying is Universal's latest micro-budget collaboration with Blumhouse Productions. It follows a teenager as she and her friends are stalked by an unseen figure.
Unfriended earned a C on CinemaScore but a 65 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
"This film had the strategy where the marketing basically went directly into the digital realm," Carpou said, highlighting the film's social media buzz. "It was done on a much higher level and gets right to the audience, which is important," he said, "especially for a movie where the action unfolds on characters' computer screens."
DreamWorks Animation's Home, released by 20th Century Fox, finished in fourth in its fourth weekend, adding about $11 million. The film has proved to be a family favorite, pulling in about $143 million in the United States and Canada.
The Nicholas Sparks adaptation The Longest Ride came in fifth in its second weekend. The film, released by 20th Century Fox, dropped 47 percent from its debut weekend, adding $7 million. To date, it has collected about $24 million domestically.
Monkey Kingdom, a nature documentary released by Disneynature, opened at No. 8 with $4.6 million, just shy of initial tracking expectations. The Tina Fey-narrated film, which earned high praise with an A-minus CinemaScore grade, follows a family of monkeys living in Sri Lanka.
In limited release, Lionsgate/Summit's Child 44 did not fare as well as expected, pulling in $621,812 after launching in about 500 theaters domestically. The thriller, which stars Tom Hardy, was produced by Ridley Scott and is based on a best-seller by Tom Rob Smith.
Fox Searchlight's drama True Story, which stars Jonah Hill and James Franco, made about $2 million in 831 theaters for a per-screen average of $2,347, less than half that of Unfriended.
The well-reviewed artificial intelligence tale Ex Machina, in limited release from A24 Films, had the weekend's highest per-screen average. It collected $798,661 from 39 theaters, for a per screen average of $20,478. To date, it has made about $1.1 million.
Year-to-date, the box office is still strong, up about 5 percent from last year.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Rentrak:
Furious 7, Universal, $29,156,595, 3,964 locations, $7,355 average, $294,510,675, 3 weeks.
Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, Columbia, $23,762,435, 3,633 locations, $6,541 average, $23,762,435, 1 week.
Unfriended, Universal, $15,845,115, 2,739 locations, $5,785 average, $15,845,115, 1 week.
Home, 20th Century Fox, $10,608,947, 3,488 locations, $3,042 average, $142,917,827, 4 weeks.
The Longest Ride, 20th Century Fox, $7,020,782, 3,371 locations, $2,083 average, $23,681,298, 2 weeks.
Get Hard, Warner Bros., $4,944,381, 2,655 locations, $1,862 average, $78,393,149, 4 weeks.
Woman in Gold, The Weinstein Co., $4,596,287, 2,011 locations, $2,286 average, $15,951,799, 3 weeks.
Monkey Kingdom, Disney, $4,577,861, 2,012 locations, $2,275 average, $4,577,861, 1 week.
The Divergent Series: Insurgent, Lionsgate, $4,096,952, 2,542 locations, $1,612 average, $120,552,425, 5 weeks.
Cinderella, Disney, $4,025,469, 2,414 locations, $1,668 average, $186,478,482, 6 weeks.
True Story, Fox Searchlight, $1,950,214, 831 locations, $2,347 average, $1,950,214, 1 week.
While We're Young, A24 Films, $1,438,384, 713 locations, $2,017 average, $4,006,203, 4 weeks.
Danny Collins, Bleecker Street, $893,551, 648 locations, $1,379 average, $3,881,050, 5 weeks.
It Follows, Radius-TWC, $820,187, 941 locations, $872 average, $13,281,332, 6 weeks.
Ex Machina, A24 Films, $798,661, 39 locations, $20,478 average, $1,126,277, 2 weeks.
Kingsman: The Secret Service, 20th Century Fox, $678,874, 556 locations, $1,221 average, $125,659,122, 10 weeks.
Child 44, Lionsgate, $621,812, 510 locations, $1,219 average, $621,812, 1 week.
American Sniper, Warner Bros., $379,718, 445 locations, $853 average, $347,762,902, 17 weeks.
Do You Believe?, Pure Flix, $368,013, 449 locations, $820 average, $12,227,429, 5 weeks.
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, Paramount, $357,715, 328 locations, $1,091 average, $161,709,302, 11 weeks.
MovieStyle on 04/24/2015