RichC2

Actuals:

1 N Fast and Furious Uni. $70,950,500 - 3,461 - $20,500 $70,950,500 $85 1
2 1 Monsters Vs. Aliens P/DW $32,609,165 -45.0% 4,109 +5 $7,936 $104,799,387 $175 2
3 2 The Haunting in Connecticut LGF $9,481,647 -58.8% 2,732 - $3,471 $37,171,280 - 2
4 3 Knowing Sum. $8,146,156 -44.6% 3,323 -14 $2,451 $58,219,770 - 3
5 4 I Love You, Man P/DW $7,722,469 -39.1% 2,829 +112 $2,730 $49,159,559 - 3
6 N Adventureland Mira. $5,722,039 - 1,862 - $3,073 $5,722,039 - 1
7 5 Duplicity Uni. $4,174,240 -45.6% 2,522 -57 $1,655 $32,250,215 $60 3
8 6 Race to Witch Mountain BV $3,212,602 -44.6% 2,825 -443 $1,137 $58,249,111 - 4
9 7 12 Rounds Fox $2,260,906 -57.6% 2,331 - $970 $8,982,767 - 2
10 11 Sunshine Cleaning Over. $1,807,164 +41.8% 479 +312 $3,773 $4,702,721 - 4
11 9 Taken Fox $1,544,471 -42.7% 1,355 -606 $1,140 $139,416,323 - 10
12 10 The Last House on the Left (2009) Uni. $1,259,325 -52.4% 1,305 -946 $965 $30,674,195 - 4
13 8 Watchmen WB $1,074,320 -60.7% 1,103 -907 $974 $105,346,566 $150 5
14 12 Slumdog Millionaire FoxS $499,257 -57.1% 498 -342 $1,003 $140,244,722 $15 21
15 13 Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail LGF $479,975 -57.6% 619 -509 $775 $89,869,224 - 7
16 14 Paul Blart: Mall Cop Sony $373,718 -55.5% 545 -537 $686 $143,162,362 $26 12
17 16 Gran Torino WB $268,026 -38.9% 363 -115 $738 $146,236,899 $33 17

DRG

I am always surprised by the grosses for the F&F films, and not because I dislike them.

The first one surprised me because $40 million was a huge opening in 2001 for a film without any big stars (at the time Vin Diesel's only lead role was Pitch Black and Paul Walker was doing supporting parts in teen movies).

The second one surprised me for exceeding TF&TF's opening weekend gross by $10 million without the help of Vin, who was the breakout star of the original.

The third one surprised me by managing to even get $23 million opening weekend despite a complete overhaul and not one well known actor in the cast.

And now, to pull $70 million opening weekend with the fourth film in a franchise, a franchise that most had dismissed as dead, no less.

Ash Ketchum

It beat WATCHMEN's opening by about $17 million. And it came out of nowhere to do it. Other than the one time I saw the trailer last November (when I saw QUANTUM OF SOLACE), I hadn't witnessed any hype for F&F4. I actually find this quite funny.

Hokeyboy

The fourth film in a series that's done over 320 million in domestic grosses?

"Came out of nowhere"?



Ahhh I needed that.

Ash Ketchum

C'mon, you know nobody was expecting this. Nobody has ever cared or talked about this series, even when the first one did well. These are drive-in movies for multiplexes.

RichC2

wtf are you talking about? This series is extremely popular, just because it isn't the most discussed flick on the intertubes doesn't mean anything.

fumanstan

No one was expecting something this high, but the film series has a pretty decent following through all 3 movies. There aren't a lot of movies featuring these sort of cars and culture, so it's not that hard to see how these draw attention, especially with a younger audience.