Box office: ‘Fast X’ wins weekend with $67.5 million, just behind 2021’s ‘F9’

Summer is motoring along, making for the perfect pun for this week’s widest release, Universal Pictures’ “Fast X,” the 10th installment of the street racing franchise starring Vin Diesel, now into its 22nd year. Read on for the weekend box office report.

After a bit of pre-production drama in which long-time director Justin Lin vacated that post, replaced by Louis Letterier (“Now You See Me”), Diesel and his “family” returned for “Fast X” with the additions of Jason Momoa and Brie Larson, and with the majority of characters from the last nine movies still appearing in some capacity or other. Reviews for the movie were mixed at best, with just 54% on Rotten Tomatoes, the worst rating for a chapter since Diesel returned for 2009’s “Fast & Furious.”

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Universal released the movie into 4,046 theaters with previews on Thursday that amounted to $7.5 million and contributed to its $28 million opening Friday.  Audiences definitely seemed to like the movie more than critics, going by its “B+” CinemaScore, the same as 2021’s “F9,” as well as the same as the OG “The Fast and the Furious” in 2001. All the other movies in the franchise have received either an “A” or “A-” CinemaScore from audiences.

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Ultimately, “Fast X” ended up making an estimated $67.5 million, which is just a few million short of “F9’s” $70 million opening in 2021. These movies have always done huge business overseas, and that was the case once again, as “Fast X” brought in $251.4 million from international territories for a global opening of $318.9 million. $22 million of that global take came from IMAX premium screens.

Despite losing many of its own premium screens, James Gunn‘s “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3” didn’t actually lose any theaters, dropping 48% in its third weekend to second place with just under $32 million. It has grossed $266.5 million in North America since opening earlier this month, this weekend, it added another $48.8 million internationally to bring its global total to $659.1 million, not a bomb by any stretch of the imagination. (China is the highest grossing territory after North America with $72.3 million.)

Universal’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” continues to be the blockbuster to beat for 2023, bringing in an additional $9.8 million in its 7th weekend in the Top 3 to bring its domestic total to $549.3 million. It’s just a day away from passing $550 million, having already passed the 2019 “The Lion King” remake. Next milestone to pass would be Disney-Pixar’s “Incredibles 2” from 2018 with $608.6 million.

SEE May 2023 box office preview

With Mother’s Day behind us, Focus Features’ comedy sequel “Book Club: The Next Chapter” plummeted 55% to fourth place with $3 million with a measly $13.1 million grossed so far.

The horror remake “Evil Dead Rise” continues to do well for Warner Bros. with another $2.4 million (down 36%) this weekend to take fifth place with $64 million grossed so far.

Sixth and seventh place were both taken up by Lionsgate movies, although the venerable action sequel “John Wick: Chapter 4,” starring Keanu Reeves, managed to stay ahead of the Judy Blume adaptation “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret?” with roughly $1.3 million each.

Unsurprisingly, the poorly reviewed Robert Rodriguez sci-fi thriller “Hypnotic,” starring Ben Affleck, plummeted in its second weekend, down 67% to eighth place with $825,000.

Neon released Zachary Wigon‘s two-handed thriller “Sanctuary,” starring Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott, into five New York and L.A. theaters where it brought in $65,000, averaging $13,000 per theater.

Hollywood legend Paul Schrader‘s latest drama “Master Gardener,” starring Joel Edgerton and Sigourney Weaver, opened in 220 locations on Friday where it grossed $269,000, putting it on the outskirts of the Top 10.

This week’s Gold Derby box office prediction game looks likely to have many players getting 6 out of 6 predictions correctly, although those predictions were somewhat mixed on how much “Fast X” would open to for first place.

Twenty-five players went 6 for 6 in last week’s game with regulars “MellowDrama,” “Max” and “Evan” in the lead with the most points scored. All three put their Super Bets on “Guardians” doing better in its second weekend than expected.

This coming Memorial Day weekend sees a slew of new wide releases, led by Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” live action remake. Check back on Wednesday for the weekend preview on how the various movies might fare.

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