The Fate of the Furious laps new films at box office

LINDSEY BAHR

LOS ANGELES — The Fate of the Furious sped into first place at the box office again, leaving new thriller Unforgettable and historical drama The Promise in the dust.

Universal Pictures’ eighth instalment in The Fast and the Furious franchise earned $38.7 million over the weekend, down 61 per cent from its debut, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The new competition didn’t stand a chance against the highoctane film, which had the biggest worldwide opening of all time last weekend. It’s expected to cross $1 billion globally this week.

Holdovers dominated the charts on this quiet weekend in theatres. The Boss Baby took second place with $12.8 million, and Beauty and the Beast landed in third with $10 million.

Disney’s animal documentary Born in China opened in fourth place, with $5.1 million from 1,508 locations. The two other new movies fared worse.

Warner Bros. thriller Unforgettable, starring Katherine Heigl as a jealous ex-wife and Rosario Dawson as the new fiancee, opened at No. 7 with just $4.8 million. Critics were tough on the film, and audiences gave it a deathly C CinemaScore rating.

The directorial debut of longtime producer Denise Di Novi cost only $12 million to make, but the meagre result still disappointed.

“Unfortunately, the movie just missed the intended audience,” said Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros.’ president of domestic distribution. “We had higher expectations, and we’re disappointed we didn’t achieve them.”

There is a silver lining for the studio. The buddy comedy Going in Style, starring Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Alan Arkin, is chugging along after three weeks in theatres, taking fifth place with $5 million.

Meanwhile, the historical epic The Promise, starring Oscar Isaac and Christian Bale, bombed with a mere $4.1 million from 2,251 theatres.