The long-running (and increasingly ridiculous) action franchise’s 10th iteration, Fast X, is shooting for the top spot in its opening weekend domestic box office. Fast X, which was directed by Louis Leterrier, made $28 million on its opening day, including $7.5 million from Thursday previews. This puts it on course to make about $67 million on its opening weekend, which will be a little less than F9: The Fast Saga’s premiere a few years ago.
The eighth entry, which was released amid a more ominous period during the epidemic, made nearly $30 million on its opening day and $70 million over the course of its first weekend. This doesn’t bode well for Fast X, which has a franchise-high $340 million budget to recoup and hits theatres shortly after a significant marketing campaign. Of fact, the stories from behind-the-scenes that have come out of this series are frequently more dramatic than some of the soap opera turns and turns in the actual movie. The fate of the dispute between The Fate of the Furious stars Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson is still up in the air, but the Fast X production ran into its own set of issues when director Justin Lin quit a week into filming.
He was shortly replaced by French director Leterrier, who directed the Transporter, Incredible Hulk, and Clash of the Titans films. His film hasn’t garnered as positive of reviews as other of the franchise’s prior installments. Fast X now has a “rotten” Rotten Tomatoes rating of 54%, and it received a so-so B+ CinemaScore from viewers on opening day, which is consistent with F9’s critical reaction. In his review, Collider’s own Ross Bonaime lauded the over-the-top tone of the movie and Jason Momoa’s evil performance as a rookie to the franchise.
Disney’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 dropped to number two after spending the previous two weekends at the top, bringing its overall domestic total to $243 million. The movie has made more than $550 million globally, but it is still far from matching the domestic and international box office totals of the original Guardians of the Galaxy ($333 million) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ($389 million domestic and $863 million internationally). For a huge Marvel film, Guardians of the Galaxy 3 had a modest opening, but it rebounded in its second weekend with one of the strongest holds in the series’ history.
Four Holdovers Trailed ‘Fast X’
The Super Mario Bros. Movie from Universal, which debuted at number three, will conclude this weekend, its seventh, just shy of the $550 million mark domestically. After a $2.2 million Friday, the animated blockbuster is projected to earn an additional $9.5 million this weekend. Book Club: The Next Chapter came in at number four with an additional $900,000 on its second Friday, bringing its overall domestic gross to $11 million. As things stand, the unusual comedic drama series, starring Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, and Mary Steenburgen, may have reached its conclusion. The movie has only made less than $15 million globally, a pitiful sum when compared to the $100 million plus global take of the first Book Club. The horror smash Evil Dead Rise, which earned $685,000 on Friday for a running domestic total of $62 million, came in fifth place this weekend.
Fast X plays in 65 foreign markets, including China, and was projected to earn $280 million in its first weekend worldwide. However, it is currently aiming for a $320 million total, which should provide much-needed respite for Universal. You can see our discussion with Michelle Rodriguez here. Check back with Collider for more weekend box office news.
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