‘Furious 7’ outpaces rivals for second week

LOS ANGELES — “Furious 7” roared away from its rivals once more to claim top spot in the North American box office for a second straight week, with nearly $60 million in ticket sales, industry figures showed Monday.

The seventh film in the stunt-filled “Fast and Furious” street-racing franchise that has raked in more than $2 billion worldwide since 2001, “Furious 7” pulled in more than $251 million in its first two weekends, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

The film features the late Paul Walker, who was killed in an unrelated car crash in November 2013 while the film was still in production.

“People feel like they’re living through the summer movie season right now even though it’s not summer,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Rentrak. “It’s the essence of a popcorn movie.”

It’s also the essence of perfect timing. By debuting in April, “Furious 7” avoided being cannibalised by other major summer tentpole films. The next heavyweight to enter the multiplexes is “Avengers: Age of Ultron”, which doesn’t hit screens until May 1.

“Studios are not afraid to place a strong movie in unconventional times and it’s paying off quite well,” said Phil Contrino, vice president and chief analyst at BoxOffice.com. “There’s no need to open everything in June, July or May when you’ll get creamed by whatever opens the next week.” 

In second place was animated children’s film “Home”, about an unpopular space alien forced to flee his own kind. It earned $18.5 million in its third week of release.

“The Longest Ride”, an onscreen rendering of Nicholas Sparks’ romantic novel of the same name, debuted in third place, earning $13 million. The movie stars Scott Eastwood, the son of actor-director Clint Eastwood.

Fourth place went to buddy comedy “Get Hard”, about a prison-bound white investment banker (Will Ferrell) who hires a black car washer (Kevin Hart) for lessons on surviving the slammer. It earned $8.2 million.

Disney’s live action “Cinderella” was in fifth place, earning $7.1 million, with “Downton Abbey” star Lily James as the enchanted scullery maid-turned-princess and Cate Blanchett as her wicked stepmother.

Dystopian action thriller “Insurgent”, the second big-screen instalment based on Veronica Roth’s best-selling “Divergent” book series, came in sixth place with $6.7 million.

“Woman in Gold”, which tells the true story of an elderly Holocaust survivor trying to get her Nazi-looted artwork back from the Austrian government, held onto seventh place with a $5.5 million haul.

Indie horror flick “It Follows”, took eighth place, grossing $1.9 million.

Ninth place went to dramedy “Danny Collins”, starring Al Pacino as a washed-up rock star and Annette Bening as the hotel manager charmed by him. It earned $1.5 million.

Rounding out the top 10, was espionage action film “Kingsman: The Secret Service” with $1.3 million.