Fast X Speeds Off to a Massive Box Office Start

Fast X just out came out over the weekend, and it’s already off to an impressive start.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the newest mainline entry in the action series has earned a global total of $318.9 million at time of writing. Because it released in territories like Belgium and and France in the middle of the week on May 17, $251.4 million of the film’s take came from international audiences. Though China ended up as the largest contributor at $78.3 million, the film had a franchise-best take at $7 million for Japan, where it’s apparently known as Wild Speed: Fire Boost. Because of the movie’s international open, Fast X has 2023’s biggest opening (s0 far), and the second biggest of the year behind Super Mario Bros.’ $377 million start back in April.

Domestically, it opened to $67.5 million, which is just barely in line with the $65-75 million range analysts were predicting before release. It continues the franchise’s gradual decline here in the west, but the film’s still doing pretty well regardless. Right now, Fast X has the third biggest behind 2018’s Fate of the Furious ($541.9 million) and 2015’s Furious 7 ($397.6 million). Up to its release this weekend, the buildup has been kind of weird. Some trailers have given up more of the film than you’d think, and the it’s also not entirely clear if this really is the penultimate film in the series. Still, the franchise has a lot of goodwill, and the draw of wild stunts and Jason Momoa putting on a performance goes a long way. And it helps that

Meanwhile, second and third place went to Chris Pratt. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 earned $80.8 million worldwide in its third weekend ($32 million in North America and $48.8 million internationally), bringing the film’s total box office to $659.1 million. And Super Mario Bros. added an extra $9.7 million to its take in North America, helping to bring its overall box office to $1.248 billion and becoming the third-biggest animated movie ever. The movie recently came to streaming, so Nintendo and Illumination are at a point where getting more theatrical revenue doesn’t really matter to them.

For Fast and Guardians, the next few weeks are going to be challenging for them. The Little Mermaid remake opens on May 26, which has gotten decent reviews thus far and will be boosted by Memorial Day weekend and the star power of its leading lady, pop star Halle Bailey. Things will get busy in the coming weeks: June will see the release of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (June 2), Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (June 9), and The Flash (June 16). Both Spider-Verse and Flash have gotten good impressions from those who’ve seen them ahead of release, while Rise will have its Hollywood premiere next Saturday on May 27.

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