Good Friday is about to become an excellent Friday for Universal as Furious 7 [FAST7] races into theaters with box office records within sight. As the number indicates, Furious 7 is the seventh installment in the action franchise and will be the last film to feature both Vin Diesel [VDIES] and Paul Walker, a bromance that has actually grown at the box office through their 4 previous installments together. With its multi-cultural cast, the Fast & Furious series mirrors the country’s diversity and succeeded by tapping into the broadest demographic of moviegoers. Directed by James Wan [JWAN], Furious 7 was originally set to open last summer until Walker died in a car accident before production was over. After script revisions and reshoots, Furious 7 finally arrives on this Easter weekend which it has all to itself. Walker’s passing has only increased interest in the PG-13 rated film as fans look to pay their respects for “one last ride”.
As if adding Dwayne Johnson [TROCK] for the last two films didn’t provide enough testosterone, another chrome dome action star Jason Statham [JSTAT] joins the cast as the villain to take on Diesel and "family". In addition, Michelle Rodriguez [MRODR] takes on another MMA superstar Ronda Rousey [RROUS] after having dispatched Gina Carano in Fast & Furious 6. The buzz has built to a fever pitch and even critic reviews have been mostly positive. Advance ticket sales are ahead of Captain American: The Winter Soldier, the current record holder for the month of April at $95.0 million, as well as Fast & Furious 6, which earned $97.3 million over the Fri-Sun portion of Memorial Weekend 2013. Racing into 4004 theaters, Furious 7 looks to drive away with $120 million.
After its blockbuster opening, Home [SMEKD] has the family audience all to itself. Past spring releases from DreamWorks Animation have declined between 32-45% during their second weekend. Home should be able to mail in $33 million.
With poor reviews and competition from Furious 6, Get Hard [GHARD] is headed for a tough second term. A more than 50% drop would put Get Hard around $16 million.
That’s the whisper from the virtual trading floor.
Tag(s): FAST7, VDIES, JWAN, TROCK, JSTAT, MRODR, RROUS, SMEKD, GHARD
