Fast X Races To The Top Of The Box Office On Opening Weekend, As Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 Continues To Impress

[Taylor Swift]

Vin Diesel's sequel steals the show.

 

 

 

 

 

 

No surprises here, Fast X raced to the top of the box office charts this weekend, leaving Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and The Super Mario Bros. Movie in its dust. Ahead of its release, the critics were all talking about Jason Momoa’s debut in the fictional universe in a role that audiences seem to agree is one of the Fast and Furious franchise’s best villains. And people showed up to see him as well as the rest of Dominic Toretto’s found family. Domestic earnings for the 10th installment of the series were as expected, if not a little underwhelming. However, a big boost from the international audience will help Universal Pictures make back some of that insane $340 million budget.

Take a look at the full Top 10 below, and then we’ll break down Fast X’s premiere -- and how it affected the other big titles on this list going into the summer movie months. 

Box Office.

(Image credit: Universal Pictures)
TITLE    WEEKEND GROSS    DOMESTIC GROSS    LW    THTRS
1. Fast X*    $67,500,000    $67,500,000    N/A    4,046
2. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3    $31,980,000    $266,522,579    1    4,450
3. The Super Mario Bros. Movie    $9,800,000    $549,291,000    2    3,540
4. Book Club: The Next Chapter    $3,000,000    $13,125,000    3    3,513
5. Evil Dead Rise    $2,375,000    $64,106,000    4    2,173
6. John Wick: Chapter 4    $1,332,000    $185,313,565    7    1,312
7. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret    $1,326,000    $18,696,250    5    1,668
8. Hypnotic    $825,000    $4,061,216    6    1,733
9. BlackBerry    $525,000    $1,200,000    11    595
10. Love Again    $400,000    $5,901,000    8    1,243
Fast X was able to earn $67.5 million domestically during its opening weekend, per Numbers, which was in line with the projections but still behind F9: The Fast Saga,. That latter installment brought in slightly more, with $70 million over its first three days in June 2021. While $3 million isn’t a huge difference, the previous movie  was released when people were still apprehensive about public outings post-pandemic and when many theaters remained closed. To contextualize how the moviegoing audiences continue to grow, Deadline reports that this weekend saw a 60% increase in moviegoers compared to the same timeframe in 2022.

Internationally, however, Fast X was putting butts in seats, with worldwide earnings totaling $319 million. That puts it in second place for biggest global opening weekend in 2023, behind just The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which earned $377 million in its debut. Universal has got to feel good about that, especially given that Louis Leterrier’s film falls in the Top 5 most expensive movies ever made.  

Jason Momoa as Dante in Fast X

(Image credit: Universal Pictures)
The action/adventure flick should continue to have legs over the summer, with Vin Diesel leading a ridiculously stacked cast that also includes John Cena, Helen Mirren, Brie Larson, Tyrese Gibson, Michelle Rodriguez and so many more. The studio is certainly hoping to see the movie eventually surpass its predecessor in box office numbers, especially with help from that international audience. F9 topped out at $719.4 million globally with its comparatively lower budget of $200 million, and The Wrap estimated that Fast X would need to gross over $800 million to turn a profit.

When it comes to opening weekend for all movies in the Fast franchise, Box Office Mojo shows that Fast X’s $67.5 million ranks seventh, with the pre-pandemic Furious 7 topping all others with $147.2 million in 2015. 

We’ll definitely have our eye on what happens in coming weeks and, hopefully, the film's second weekend numbers will give us an indication of its longevity, as it continues to go up against Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and will soon face the release of the upcoming superhero movie Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse and other big 2023 new movie releases like The Flash and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. 

Guardians Of The Galaxy Continues To Impress In Third Weekend, But The Book Club Sequel Fails To Turn The Page 

The folks over at Marvel and Disney were undoubtedly happy with Guardians of the Galaxy’s second-weekend box office numbers, and there’s more reason to celebrate after the past three days. Despite going against Fast X, James Gunn's gang of misfits brought in another $32 million domestically — again falling less than 50% week-over-week. The threequel has now grossed over $266.5 million domestically and $659 worldwide. 

As we discussed in last week’s column, positive reviews and word-of-mouth advertising are likely giving GoTG Vol. 3 legs. CinemaBlend’s Sarah El-Mahmoud rated it 4 of 5 stars, while it was given an “A” on CinemaScore and holds a 94% Fresh audience score on Rotten Tomatoes (where it has accumulated more than 10,000 votes). With everything coming up in the next few months, will it be able to earn enough to surpass the first two movies in earnings? The first movie garnered $773 million globally in 2014, while the sequel topped out at $863 million in 2017.

Last week’s new release, Book Club: The Next Chapter, did not see the same second-week success as the Marvel blockbuster. After a disappointing premiere week earning just $6.5 million, ticket sales dropped 55%, bringing in just $3 million in its sophomore weekend for a domestic total of just over $13.1 million. That increases to $16.9 million after international sales are added, but that’s still a disappointment for the septuagenarian rom-com starring Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen, especially since it reportedly cost about $20 million to make. 

The Super Mario Bros. Movie And John Wick: Chapter 4 Are Still Chugging Along 

While it was bumped from its silver-medal spot due to Fast X, The Super Mario Bros. Movie continues to be a solid option for families heading into the school-free months. With several family-friendly flicks on tap this summer, it’s likely to take a bigger hit at some point but, after its seventh weekend, it still pulled in $9.9 million for a domestic total so far of $549.3 million. With over $1.2 billion in gross revenue globally, it remains by far the most profitable movie of the year so far, and its worldwide earnings this week make it the third-highest-grossing animated movie ever, behind just Frozen and Frozen 2.

John Wick: Chapter 4 is, for now at least, a mainstay in the middle of the Top 10 after its ninth weekend, with Keanu Reeves’ action movie increasing its domestic total to $185.3 million. How much longer will it hold on with the upcoming slate? 

Next weekend brings us the highly anticipated release of the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid on Friday, May 26. While there's not necessarily a lot of genre overlap between Halle Bailey's movie and, say, Vin Diesel's, there’s lots of interest surrounding this upcoming Disney offering, and fans’ reactions following early screenings were promising. Be sure to check back to CinemaBlend next Sunday, when we’ll break it all down.