Tickets were selling fast and furious this weekend for “Fast and Furious.” The fourth installment in the series, which reunited the stars of the original movie, raced to a $72.5 million opening.
The box-office take was the largest for 2009 and was the largest April opening on record.
Featuring the movie’s original stars, Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, the movie opened at $30 million more than many analysts projected and set a spate of records, including the highest opening for a movie in the first four months of the year.
Universal Studios sold the film on the reunion of Walker and Diesel, who also was a producer.
The tactic was “a great marketing strategy,” says Paul Dergarabedian of Media By Numbers. “Fast & Furious proves that audiences are loyal to specific stars in specific roles and will line up in big numbers to see these actors portray their most beloved characters.”
And the debut could open more roads for the franchise, a Universal executive said.
The $165 million animated comedy “Monsters vs. Aliens” enjoyed a strong second weekend, dipping just 44% from its debut to take second place and $33.5 million. The 3-D film has captured $105.7 million in 10 days.
The horror film “The Haunting in Connecticut” was third with $9.6 million. That lifted its total to $37.2 million.
Nicolas Cage’s thriller “Knowing” was fourth with $8.1 million. That brings its three-week grosses to $58.2 million.
Rounding out the top five was the Paul Rudd comedy “I Love You, Man” with $7.9 million. It has earned $49.3 million in three weeks.
The only other big newcomer of the weekend was the teenage comedy “Adventureland”, which opened with $6 million, about $2 million below projections.
And now, in a move guaranteed to bring in more money, we will pigeon-hole every actor that makes a great action hero, and never let them play anything else. Hello Die Hard 96: Still Dead and Loving It!