'Furious 7' destroys records with $143.6-M debut

LOS ANGELES -- "Furious 7" raced to the top of the domestic box office, picking up a massive $143.6 million in its opening weekend.

That establishes a new high-water mark for the month of April, blowing past the $95-million debut of "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," and stands as the highest-grossing kick-off for any film in the "Fast and Furious" franchise. It also ranks ninth among the top 10 openings in history.

Much as "The Dark Knight" turned into a memorial for Heath Ledger, audiences flocked to see star Paul Walker in one of his final roles. The actor died in a 2013 car crash at the age of 40 and his work on the film was completed using digital technology and a series of stand-ins.

"This is a bittersweet installment in the franchise," said Phil Contrino, vice president and chief analyst at BoxOffice.com. "[Walker's] passing made this movie more intriguing for people who hadn't seen some of the installments. It raised awareness and its success is a tribute to him."

Universal Pictures spared no expense in bringing the latest chapter in the fast cars and gravity-defying-stunts series to the big screen, shelling out $190 million on the production. It unspooled in 4,003 North American theaters, earning $14 million on 365 Imax screens and $11.5 million from premium large format screens. Going into the weekend, most analysts estimated that the film would open in the $115-million range.

Foreign numbers were steroidal. Internationally, the film rolled out across 10,500 screens in 63 territories, earning $240.4 million.

"This is the next member of the billion dollar club and that's a rarefied place to be," said Contrino. "This thing is on fire."

With an A CinemaScore and strong reviews, "Furious 7" could be one of the few modern blockbusters that hangs on for more than a few weeks. The month of April is lean on blockbuster fare and "Furious 7" won't get serious competition until "The Avengers: Age of Ultron" debuts on May 1.

The opening weekend crowd was impressively diverse, a testament to a series that has drawn strength from its multi-cultural cast. The audience was 51% male, 44% under age 25, 37% Hispanic, 25% Caucasian, 24% African-American and 10% Asian.

"We're expanding our audience based on the diversity of interest from different ethnic groups all buying into saga of Dom Toretto and his family," said Nick Carpou, Universal's president of domestic distribution, referencing the character played by Vin Diesel.

Last weekend's box office champion, DreamWorks Animation's "Home," showed impressive stamina, falling less than 50%. The animated tale picked up $27.4 million in its sophomore frame, pushing its domestic total to $95.6 million.

In third place, R-rated comedy "Get Hard" earned $12.9 million. The Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart team-up fell 62% from its opening number, bringing its stateside haul to $57 million.

"Cinderella" snagged a fourth place finish, picking up $10.3 million stateside to push its domestic bounty to $167.3 million. Globally, the Disney release is closing in on $400 million.

"The Divergent Series: Insurgent" rounded out the weekend top five, nabbing $10 million and driving the film to $103.4 million domestically.

Among art house releases, Noah Baumbach's "While We're Young" expanded from four to 34 theaters, picking up $492,976. The A24 release has earned $791,450 in two weeks.

Radius-TWC's "It Follows" also continued to expand, moving from 1,218 to 1,655, though its gross dipped 35% to $2.5 million. The critically adored horror film has made $8.5 million since debuting on March 13.

The Weinstein Company was particularly bullish on the reception for "Woman in Gold," a drama about the fight to recover art stolen by the Nazis. The film picked up $2 million from 258 locations and will expand to between 800 and 1,000 venues this coming weekend.

"The film is definitely poised for a long, long run," said Erik Lomis, the studio's distribution chief. "That's a really solid start."

Thanks to "Furious 7," the overall box office reached $218 million, the first time that ticket sales have crossed $200 million over the Easter weekend.

"These huge results jump start momentum for the blockbuster, summer season, suggesting that 2015 is shaping up to be everything (and maybe even more) that the industry has been hoping for," said Greg Foster, CEO of Imax Entertainment.

In other words, "Furious 7" just dropped the mic.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Review: Adrenaline overload in 'Furious 7'

"Furious 7" follows the same adrenaline rush formula that fueled the first six film in the franchise to box-office success. The barely-there story just functions to string together some of the most memorable and impossibly spectacular stunts involving the most muscular cars ever captured on film. As the stunts get more and more complex and incredible, there is a dramatic real-life twist that would challenge the filmmakers further for this seventh installment, and that is the death of star Paul Walker in, as fate would have it, a race car accident. How they deal with Walker's death in the film will be a matter of curiosity among fans of this franchise.

The plot here follows right from FF6. Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), a Black-Ops savvy brother of a former fallen enemy, is out for revenge big time. Striking a deal with a secret government agent code-named Mr. Nobody (Kurt Russell), Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his posse rescues Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel), a hacker who had been kidnapped by Jakande (Djimon Hounsou), a terrorist with military-grade firepower. Ramsey had developed God's Eye, a powerful tracking system which can use all available digital devices around to locate any subject.

On the action front, this film is on adrenaline overload as the gang goes from Los Angeles and Tokyo, to Azerbaijan and Abu Dhabi. The cars here don't only look great, they also do the most amazing things. I'm sure it was really very hard to top the already over-the-top stunts we saw in FF6, but the insane stunts we see here in FF7 could definitely match them. Cars jumping out of planes ( a major stunt dubbed "air drop"), cars hurtling down cliffs, cars jumping from skyscraper to skyscraper -- they have got it all here!

With Jason Statham there in the mix as the main antagonist, there would not be a dearth of heart-stopping, bone-crunching mano-a-mano fights. Right off the bat, Statham would engage Dwayne Johnson in a hard-hitting brawl that destroys an entire office. Of course, there will also be a climactic Aston Martin-smashing face-off with Vin Diesel himself at the end. Paul Walker had his own breathtaking fight inside a moving van against Thai martial arts star Tony Jaa. Michele Rodriguez had her dynamic fight scene in full evening gown regalia vs. MMA star Ronda Rousey in an elegant penthouse suite.

The FF series is as much about family as it about action, and this is not forgotten here. Toretto is dealing with the amnesia suffered by his wife, Letty. Walker's character, Brian, is trying to quietly settle down as a family man with Dom's sister, Mia (Jordana Brewster).The much-anticipated final send-off and goodbye to Paul Walker was touching yet very manly.

Director James Wan takes a break from his horror films and successfully orchestrates these visually spectacular out-of-this world vehicular stunts with his crew. They were also able to give Paul Walker a fitting and dignified farewell. The scenes where Paul's real life brothers Caleb and Cody stand-in for him were not obvious as the editing was very well done.

Of course, they made Toretto and company virtually superheroes the way they can emerge from all those incredibly dangerous situations unscathed. It does seem absurd, but isn't this really how fans consider them? The "humor" of Tyrese Gibson's character Roman can be groan-inducing, especially in that party scene, but I'd say it's tolerable.

Overall, I would say that this particular installment of the FF series definitely achieved what it set out to do. This is a very entertaining film indeed. The Lykan HyperSport and Nathalie Emmanuel look fantastic. When put side by side with the other FF films I've seen, though, I think Fast 5 and FF 6 were still better than this. 7/10.





This review was originally published in the author's blog, "Fred Said."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

LOOK: A 'Fast & Furious' plane

Universal Pictures has recently unveiled the luxury Fast & Furious 777 airliner at Los Angeles International Airport. Actor-producer Vin Diesel was on hand as Etihad Airways Flight 171 arrived from Abu Dhabi to kick off the global junket and world premiere of "Furious 7."

The newly decaled Boeing 777 will fly the direct route between Abu Dhabi and Los Angeles.

Abu Dhabi is a key location for "Furious 7." Over the course of two weeks in April 2014, the team filmed in areas outside Abu Dhabi in the Liwa Desert, as well as in the city center at such locations as the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Emirates Palace hotel, the Yas Marina F1 race circuit and the Etihad Towers.

“We are pleased to work together with Universal, an organization which shares that same spirit of innovation and reimagination when it comes to the world of entertainment, to unveil our newly decaled Boeing 777 aircraft in support of the Fast & Furious franchise, and
'Furious 7' which premieres next month and highlights our airline’s home of Abu Dhabi,” Peter Baumgartner, chief commercial officer of Etihad Airways, said in a statement released on Thursday.

“When we began filming 'The Fast and the Furious' in 2000, if you told me that we would one day have our logo on a wide-body jet, I would have said you were crazy,” quipped producer Neal H. Moritz, who has shepherded all seven films in the series.

The Fast & Furious decal will remain on the plane for the next four to six months.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com