Weekend Wrap-Up

Furious 7 Shortens The Longest Ride

By John Hamann

April 12, 2015

No, *I'm* the best bald action hero!

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The action blockbuster with the $190 million budget joined the top 12 biggest second weekends of all time, staying ahead of Toy Story 3’s $59.7 million but falling just short of The Dark Knight Rises $62.1 million. Paul Walker’s last film now has a 10-day domestic total of $252.5 million, and is a whisper away from joining the top 75 domestic releases of all-time already. For me, the hardest thing to believe is that after only 10 days of release, Furious 7 is already the biggest Fast & Furious grosser, having already surpassed the $238.7 million earned by Furious 6. Depending on what happens throughout April, the blockbuster could earn as much as $350 million, as I am expecting holds in the 40-45% range over the next two weekends before Avengers: Age of Ultron hits screens. Overseas, Furious 7 has almost reached crossed the $550 million mark before the weekend began, so we are almost certainly looking at a billion dollar worldwide film here.

Finishing second is DreamWorks Animation’s Home, which is now in its third weekend. After a $27 million frame last weekend that saw it drop 48% compared to its $52.1 million opening, DreamWorks and Fox were looking for a stronger hold this weekend, with no $150 million juggernaut showing up to mess things up. It did hold well, as Home beat expectations in its third weekend, earning $19 million and dropping only 30%. This was exactly the kind of box office that DreamWorks and Fox were looking for, as it keeps momentum moving forward. Next weekend’s Monkey Kingdom shouldn’t slow it down too much, and the following weekend’s Little Boy is already a long shot. Currently, Home has reached $129.6 million on the domestic side, and it could still see a Croods-type finish in the area of $187 million. Its overseas take is $111 million mark, so despite the too-large budget of $135 million, DreamWorks will have a success with Home, and potentially a franchise.




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Finishing third is our lone new wide release, The Longest Ride, which won’t end up being known for a huge box office success, but rather for the launch of its stars, Scott Eastwood and Britt Robertson. First off, The Longest Ride, another in the Nicolas Sparks brand of cookie-cutter romantic movies, did the usual and opened to $13.5 million from 3,366 venues (most of which will be given to Avengers: Age of Ultron in a few weeks). Seven of the 10 Sparks adaptions have opened between $10 and $16 million, and this is just another in a long lineup, with more unfortunately likely to come. Like usual, critics hated it, with The Longest Ride garnering a rotten rating of 29% at RottenTomatoes. Audiences liked it more than critics, as it received an A Cinemascore. The usual score for Sparks’ film is B+, so this one stepped up a little better. Made for $35 million, the studio will be looking for a similar result to The Lucky One, which earned $99.4 million worldwide.

If you live under a rock, Scott Eastwood is Son of Eastwood, and looks remarkably like his iconic father did back in the days of the spaghetti western. Upcoming films for the young Eastwood include Oliver Stone’s Snowden, and then he has an unnamed role in Suicide Squad. After that, he is rumored to be playing Steve Trevor in the Wonder Woman spinoff. Britt Robertson’s next film is Tomorrowland with George Clooney, which is opening on May 22nd, and she is following that up with Cook, a drama with Eddie Murphy. Like with Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams in The Notebook, The Longest Ride could provide the career lift both actors are looking for.


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