The Weekend Report: Furious 7 Races Past $1 Billion

In which I run down the big winners (and losers) at the box office this weekend

Even if it fell just short of industry predictions, Furious 7 never the less defended its #1 slot against a barrage of newcomers this weekend.  What's more, it finally passed the $1 billion milestone globally, making it the seventh highest grossing movie of all time and Universal's most successful movie to date.

Universal certainly isn't strapped for cash in 2015.  Both of the two highest performers this year - Furious 7 and Fifty Shades of Grey - belong to them.  And even if the year will ultimately come down to a showdown between Age of Ultron and The Force Awakens, movies like those, Jurassic World and Ted 2 will make sure that the studio's not forgotten when the end-of-year tallies come in.

The Paul Blart sequel did about as well as expected: solidly in second place, with a somewhat modest take in the $20 millions.  With summer on the horizon, I won't likely find time for see this one or its predeccessor, further fuelling untrue rumors that I hate all comedies.  But when movies start getting this good and this numerous, I simply can't justify seeing it over the competition.

With It Follows booted from the box office, it's at least nice to see a horror movie take its place.  This one's definitely a lot more divisive (and a lot dumber) than this year's indie horror darling, but it actually works despite how stupid it looks.

The Skype-based premise actually works with its found footage framework and it made good use of the added leniency its R-rating gave it.  While I can't whole-heartedly urge people to see this one, horror fans might find it a good time killer before Insidious: Chapter 3, Sinister 2 and Poltergeist come out later this year.

Let's face it, documentaries lack a certain kind of mainstream appeal: mostly being relegated to the classroom (and even then not all that often).  Monkey Kingdom did about as well as I expected a Disney nature documentary to do, drawing in field trips and non-fiction enthusiasts, but little more.

I'll probably end up seeing this next weekend, given how much of an animal nut Becky is.  If left to my own devices, though, I probably would have spent those couple hours seeing Cinderella one last time before it rotates out of theaters.

Box Office Standings:

1)  Furious 7 - $29m

2)  Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 - $24m

3)  Unfriended - $16m

4)  Home - $10.3m

5) The Longest Ride - $6.8m

6)  Get Hard - $4.8m

7)  Monkey Kingdom - $4.7m

8)  The Woman in Gold - $4.6m

9)  Insurgent - $4.1m

10)  Cinderella - $3.9m

So what movie did you see in theaters this last weekend?  Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

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