With the only new film in wide release being another formulaic Nicholas Sparks film (“The Longest Ride”) there wasn’t going to be much competition for “Furious 7” or “Home.” In Furious you have a crowd pleasing action juggernaut that’s breaking records all over the place. Pretty good for a franchise that started as a “Point Break” ripoff.
In “Home” you’ve got a family friendly flick that is a great alternative to Furious. It doesn’t stand out really but it’s a better option for family’s than newcomer Longest Ride. Now that isn’t to say that “The Longest Ride” performed poorly, just that it didn’t really stand a chance of having a big opening. It’s a Sparks movie, it had no big stars attached and there are better options for most people right now.
“Furious 7” is making waves globally and has a few weeks before any real competition hits. It just set the biggest opening day record in China and has already made over $800 million. It will also be until May before it has an competition.
| Rank | Title | Studio | Weekend Gross | % Change | Total Gross | Week # | |||||
| 1 | Furious 7 | Uni. | $60,591,000 | -58.8% | $252,522,000 | 2 | |||||
| 2 | Home (2015) | Fox | $19,000,000 | -29.7% | $129,554,000 | 3 | |||||
| 3 | The Longest Ride | Fox | $13,500,000 | – | $13,500,000 | 1 | |||||
| 4 | Get Hard | WB | $8,635,000 | -34.2% | $71,201,000 | 3 | |||||
| 5 | Cinderella (2015) | BV | $7,225,000 | -29.0% | $180,773,000 | 5 | |||||
A quick note on budgets and dollar figures:
Films making back their budgets is a good sign, but that is just the money to film. It doesn’t include distribution and marketing. Marketing can cost as much as a film. That big Superbowl spot is spendy. So take that into account when judging a film’s success. Hitting $100 million isn’t the same as it once was.
All dollar amounts in the top 5 come from estimates based on ticket sales unless noted otherwise. Occasionally this article will be published when actual results come out, which is usually late Monday afternoon. For more about this and other ins and outs of movie tracking click here.