2017 has already had its fair share of major releases and tentpole films hitting the big screen, despite the fact that we aren’t even four full months into the year. With titles like Logan, John Wick: Chapter 2, The LEGO Batman Movie, Beauty and the Beast, and more, 2017 got off to a big start from the very beginning and hasn’t slowed down yet. But even with Beauty and the Beast crossing $1 billion at the box office this week, 2017 is about to kick it into high gear (pun intended) with The Fate of the Furious, the eighth installment in the Fast and Furious franchise, which just a few years ago no one expected to last this long.

Directed by F. Gary Gray, Fate of the Furious not only boasts the most impressive lineup of actors that the Fast and Furious franchise has ever seen, but it’s also shaping up to be significantly bigger than any of its seven predecessors, which is saying something considering where this franchise has gone as of late. With mostly positive buzz surrounding it too, it looks as though there’s nothing that can slow The Fate of the Furious down right now.

Now, Variety is reporting that The Fate of the Furious is tracking to have a $534 million debut at the worldwide box office. There is still the possibility, of course, that the film’s accumulative total could fall short of that mark, but if it does indeed manage to score that much throughout its 65 territories, this would be the largest worldwide weekend launch of all time. Effectively, it would put The Fate and the Furious above the $529 million that Star Wars: The Force Awakens scored back in 2015, in addition to Jurassic World’s $524.9 million and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2’s $483.2 million.

If The Fate of the Furious does manage to beat all of those weekend totals, then it should prove once and for all the global appeal this franchise has acquired. After effectively rebooting/kickstarting itself in 2011 with director Justin Lin’s Fast Five - which coincidentally introduced The Rock’s Hobbs for the first time - the franchise has been on a steady climb in popularity and success ever since.

Some might not have expected Fate to beat the numbers put up by 2015’s Furious 7 either, which benefitted greatly from its heartwarming tribute to the franchise’s dearly departed Paul Walker, but it looks to be proving those naysayers wrong. It’s also worth noting too that a majority of Fate of the Furious’ opening weekend totals will be coming from its international territories, with the film projected to make around $103.8 million at the domestic box office while earning $430.4 million internationally. So while the film might not be the most well-reviewed installment in the Fast and Furious franchise, it looks as though Universal’s most expensive investment in the franchise to date, may also be it’s most successful.

Source: Variety

  • Fast and Furious 8 Release Date: 2017-04-14