‘Fast and Furious 8’ leaves competition in the dust at North America box office

LOS ANGELES, USA –  The Fast and Furious 8 ran at full throttle for a second weekend, raking in $38.7 million to head North American box-office profits with a total of $163.6, industry analysts estimated on Sunday, April 23. 

Although the eighth installment in Universal Studio’s Fast and Furious series – starring megastars Vin Diesel and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson – shattered records during its opening last weekend with global revenues of more than a half-billion dollars, its North American take so far has come in below that of Furious 7, which earned $250 million over its first two weekends. (READ: ‘Fast and Furious 8’ Review: Flat, noisy and forgettable)

The latest film, directed by F. Gary Gray of Straight Outta Compton fame, also features Charlize Theron, Tyrese Gibson and hip-hop star Ludacris. 

In it, Diesel’s Dom Toretto character is coerced to join forces with a cyberterrorist played by Theron, who turns him against his team.

In second place, the DreamWorks animation The Boss Baby took in $12.8 million, Exhibitor Relations reported.

The tale of rivalry between babies and puppies has earned a four-week total of $137 million. Alec Baldwin voices the tie-wearing chief baby in the production, distributed by Fox.

Third-place Beauty and the Beast continued to draw viewers to North American theaters this weekend, earning $10 million in its sixth week. 

The Disney blockbuster, starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens, has taken in $471 million domestically so far while pushing past $1 billion internationally.

Fourth place went to Born in China, a Disney animal documentary, which debuted with $5.1 million. The co-production between Disneynature and Shanghai Media Group offers a rare glimpse of pandas, snow leopards and other creatures of the country’s vast animal kingdom.

Going in Style held fifth place. The Warner Bros. comedy, starring Morgan Freeman, Alan Arkin and Michael Caine as aging bank robbers, had weekend sales of $5 million.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

• Smurfs: The Lost Village ($4.9 million)
• Unforgettable ($4.8 million)
• Gifted ($4.5 million)
• The Promise ($4 million)
• The Lost City of Z ($2 million)

– Rappler.com