‘Fate of the Furious’ Revs Past $30 Million by Midday in China Opening

Patrick Frater

Speed-obsessed action film “The Fate of the Furious” zoomed to a blistering start at the Chinese box office.

The Vin Diesel-starring picture earned a turbo-charged $8.2 million from about 16,000 midnight screenings on the night of Thursday to Friday, according to local data service Ent Group.

By noon Friday, its first day of official release, the latest “Fast and Furious” installment had sold a further $29.7 million (RMB205 million) of tickets, according to Ent’s companion site CBO. CBO gave it a market share of more than 90% on Friday.

Online ticketing service Weying reported the film as passing the RMB300 million ($43.5 million) landmark by 12:30 p.m. local time Friday.

The previous film in the “Fast and Furious” franchise was briefly the all-time box office champion in China with a gross of $380 million.

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