You must have seen this coming, even if it was clouded by tire smoke – Fast & Furious 7 has opened with a hiss and a roar in New Zealand, taking a sweet 2.82 million dollars at cinemas over the weekend. Furthermore, it has officially become the biggest ever opening week for a film in NZ history with a whopping $4.18m. This surpasses previous record holder, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, Part 2’s $4.03 million. To put that in perspective – if Deathly Hallows was an arm cast, Furious 7 would be The Rock’s flexing bicep.
The film make another $1.5m in its second weekend in this country, taking its grand total close to $5.7m.
Buoyed by the success of previous installments and the transition of the series from car-centric thrillers into gonzo action blockbusters, it was always going to open large, even without the untimely passing of star Paul Walker. Now the franchise finds itself at a crossroads, the biggest game in town in defiance of sci-fi special effects behemoths and old man action vehicles.
The film has currently made US$251.5 million in the domestic US market, with an additional US$548million from international markets, for a current total of US$803million.
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