For the past few weeks, Furious 7 has been everywhere, and for good reason: the team's commitment to completing the film following the tragic death of Paul Walker is admirable, and early reviews have praised the film as a loving tribute to the late actor. It may be a bit more of the same Fast and Furious action that fans have come to expect, but as it stands, the film has handled the death of its star better than anyone could have ever exptected.
While such news is great, it doesn't necessarily guarantee that the film will do well when it comes to ticket sales. Previous entries in the series have been successful (there wouldn't be a seventh movie otherwise), but it's never been a record-breaking franchise. At this point, there's only one question left to ask: without its lead star, will fans still go out and buy tickets?
If the early box office reports are anything to go by, the answer is a resounding 'yes.'
According to Deadline, Furious 7 is on track for a massive opening weekend. Early preview screenings on Thursday night brought in roughly $15.8 million - something that's almost unheard of for early openings. Comparitively speaking, Captain America: The Winter Soldier only manged to bring in about $10 million on its Thursday night opening - and, if a movie ends up beating a Marvel film, it's almost guaranteed to be a success.
From there, things are only looking better and better. Projections for the core weekend screenings (Friday-Sunday) are expected to total in at roughly $120-130 million, with some predictions coming in even higher than that. Furious 7 is riding a huge wave of hype right now thanks to a huge social media push and great early reviews, and it looks like ticket sales are going to reflect that.
The film's IMAX screenings are also looking good, with Thursday night's screenings pulling in $2.2 million. That might not sound all that impressive next to $15.8 million, but Furious 7 now has the third-highest IMAX opening in history, and was only bested by Iron Man 3 and The Dark Knight Rises. It's Universal Pictures' biggest IMAX opening to date, and it looks like Furious 7 could hold onto that record for some time.
Considering everything that the production team went through, Furious 7 could have ended up feeling like a hollow shell of a movie. Instead, the team took a tragedy and turned it into both a successful film and a loving tribute - thankfully, it seems like the cast and crew will be rewarded for all the hard work they've done.
Furious 7 hits theaters on April 3.
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