Every time a new entry in the increasingly physics-free Fast & Furious movie series arrives, there are those who ask why "they" keep making "these things". The fact that the latest – the eighth – just made $100.1 million at the American box office alone in its first weekend – might provide some sort of answer.
The studio estimates put Fast & Furious 8 (or The Fate Of The Furious, as it is known in the US), on a healthy path to another big box office win for the franchise. And with more than $432 million earned elsewhere in just this opening weekend salvo for a $532.4 million start globally, you really don't have to wonder why they are viewing this one as the kick-off to a new trilogy within the long-running set of movies.
As for the rest of Hollywood, they have long since learned to get out of the way of Dom Toretto, Luke Hobbs and the rest, and there were no other wide releases in the US this weekend. The other movies arriving were limited to the limited platform
likes of The Lost City Of Z, which opened on four screens. So The Boss Baby simply slipped to second place, adding $15.5 million, while Beauty And The Beast, itself celebrating crossing $1 billion at the worldwide box office, earned $13.3 million in third.
Fourth was Smurfs: The Lost Village on $6.5 million, while Going In Style dropped one place to fifth with $6.3 million.
Chris Evans-starring drama Gifted expanded its release and soared into the top 10 from 16th place to sixth, making $3 million (it has thus far earned around $4.3 million), while Get Out actually rose a place, jumping back to seventh with $2.9 million. Power Rangers dropped to eighth on $2.8 million, while The Case For Christ, clearly hoping for an Easter holiday boost, rose one place to ninth and $2.7 million. Which meant Kong: Skull Island had to make do with 10th place, adding $2.6 million for a running US total of $161.2 million.