The Fate Of The Furious Races Past Global Box Office Record
The Fate of the Furious, the eighth and latest installment in the The Fast and the Furious franchise, sped past a global box office record this weekend. The Universal film, starring Vin Diesel and directed by F. Gary Gray, raked in an estimated 532.5 million in its global box office debut, CNN reported. That beats the previous record set by Star Wars The Force Awakens, which pulled in 529 million across the globe in its opening weekend. But Furious 8 had an advantage over Force Awakens because its opening included China, which has the second-largest movie market in the world. The film easily overtook The Boss Baby, which held the top spot in the box office for the last two weekends. A majority of the Furious 8s earnings came from international markets, with about 81 of the box office total coming from outside the United States. The film made an estimated 432.3 million abroad and 100.2 million in the U.S. The film was also the franchise's second-biggest debut in North America, behind Furious 7s 147 million. The seventh installment was the final film that included Paul Walker, who tragically died in a car crash in 2013. The Fast and the Furious franchise isn't ending anytime soon  as Universal has already announced a ninth and tenth installment set to premiere in 2019 and 2021, respectively, according to The Hollywood Reporter.