Box Office Results: Fast Five is First in Hollywood Movie Race

Universal's "Fast Five" sped past "Thor" to regain the overseas box office crown last weekend.

In its third week of international play, "Five" posted a stellar $85.8 million from 58 reported countries. Paramount's "Thor" dropped to second place with $45 million from 57 markets outside the U.S.

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International Hollywood Box Office Results

International Box Office: ‘Fast Five’ sets Universal record with US$86.6M

Universal Studios Fast Five roared to the Top of the foreign theatrical circuit’s box office chart on the weekend, grossing US$86.6M from 6,979 locations; for a per-screen average of more than US$12,000 in 58 overseas territories.

Opening in 44 new markets and almost doubling its $45.9 million gross from the pastr week, Fast Five’s take was described by Universal as the biggest International weekend in the Company’s history, besting the previous weekend record, US$84.3M grossed by Y 2005’s King Kong update.

Fast Five, has been playing overseas for three weeks no, and has taken US$184.8M offshore, lifting its Worldwide total to date to US$324.7M.

The film’s Mexico opening, US$8.6M from 500 spots, was a market record for a Universal title. In Brazil, Fast Five was # 1 with US$5M from 310 locations.

Market opening records for Universal were also set in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Panama, Peru, Trinidad and Uruguay. Fast Five is also # 1 in Italy, US$7.4 million at 420 spots, and in France US$8.8M from 500 sites.

The 5th sequel in the Turbo-charged Car action franchise, directed by Justin Lin and co-Starring Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson and Paul Walker, has 5 territories yet to play with 3 opening this week including China.

The Top foreign grosser in the Action Car franchise is Y 2009’s Fast & Furious, drawing US$208M offshore.

Paramount’s release of Marvel Entertainment’s Thor, last weekend # 1 title on the foreign circuit, finished 2nd this time with $46 million drawn from 12,476 locations in 60 offshore markets. That was a about a 50% drop from the $87 million gross marked in the 1st round.

Director Kenneth Branagh’s 3-D interpretation of a Stan Lee comic book about an otherworldly Warrior defending Planet Earth opened in 4 markets, the biggest was China where “preliminary indications” put the debut gross at $2.3 million from the film’s 1-day Sunday opening, said Paramount.

In 11 days, Thor has grossed $176 million offshore.

Rio, 20th Century Fox’s family-oriented animation title, finished # 3 on the weekend with $16.2 million from from 8,706 screens in 67 markets, raising the film’s take after a month of overseas playtime to $292.3 million.

Opening in 23 markets on the weekend, Fox’s Water for Elephants, the Depression-era drama costarring Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson, grossed $11.1 million from 3,764 screens in 45 markets for an offshore take of $21.3 million. Water finished # 4 overall.

Sony opened Priest, a SYFY thriller in 3-D co-starring Paul Bettany and Cam Gigandet, at 1,460 sites in 4 markets for a weekend take of $5.5 million. The biggest debut was Russia, where the take was $2.9 million from some 700 locations. Priest finished # 5 on the weekend.

Summit International’s Source Code opened # 2 in South Korea, and grossed an estimated $4.3 on the weekend overall from 1,350 screens in 39 markets. The thriller starring Jake Gyllenhall has a foreign take of $40.8 million.

Warner’s period Werewolf fantasy Red Riding Hood pushed its foreign gross total to $50 million thanks to a $2.6 million weekend at some 2,400 screens in 44 markets. Its Arthur update starring Russell Brand, drew $2.3 million from 1,100 screens in 17 markets for an international take of 12.7 million.

Other International takes: Sony’s Just Go With It, $109.8 million; Warner’s Hall Pass, $36.4 million; Universal’s Hanna, $1.9 million in opener in the U.K. at 413 sites; Fox’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid, $6.6 million; Universal’s Paul, $50.4 million; Fox’s Gulliver’s Travels, $194 million; and Universal’s Hop, $61.9 million.

Vin Diesel spends time in the ‘Fast’ lane

In Hollywood, substantial careers are said to have legs — but in Vin Diesel’s case, it’s wheels.

Ever since the shiny-domed tough guy burned rubber as the breakout star of 2001’s “The Fast and the Furious,” Diesel’s Dom Toretto, the hulking chief of a ring of car thieves, has been the bread and butter of Diesel’s career.

This Friday’s “Fast Five” is the fifth installment of the rubber-burning franchise.

The gravel-voiced actor skipped the first sequel, “2 Fast 2 Furious,” had a cameo in the next, “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift,” and returned to star in “Fast & Furious,” which reignited the franchise. Here’s a peek in the rearview:

“The Fast and the Furious” (2001)

Plot: Cars go vroom as undercover cop Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) infiltrates street racer Dom Toretto’s (Diesel) hijacking truck ring and falls for his sister Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster).

Also starring: Modified Honda Civics

Box-office domestic gross: $145 million

“2 Fast 2 Furious” (2003)

Plot: O’Conner, no longer a cop, is busted by the FBI and watched by customs agent Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes). He’s also forced to infiltrate gangster Carter Verone’s (Cole Hauser) crew to get his record cleaned. He partners with childhood buddy and ex-con Roman “Rom” Pearce (Tyrese Gibson).

Also starring: Modified Nissan Skyline, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution and a Mitsubishi Eclipse

Box-office domestic gross: $127 million

“The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift” (2006)

Plot: Street-racing teen Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) is sent to Tokyo to be with his military dad after a crash. There he meets military brat Twinkie (Bow Wow), who introduces him to underground drift racing. They tussle with the Drift King (Brian Tee).

Also starring: Ford Mustang Shelby GT500

Box-office domestic gross: $63 million

“Fast & Furious” (2009)

Plot: O’Conner, now with the FBI, needs to infiltrate a heroin ring run by the mysterious Braga (John Ortiz). Dom comes out of hiding as he searches for the killer of his lover Letty (Michelle Rodriguez).

Also starring: Nissan Skyline GT-R, Chevrolet Chevelle

Box-office domestic gross: $155 million

Hollywood Movie Fast Five: Review

Starring: 

Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Sung Kang, Dwayne Johnson
Director: 

Justin Lin
Release dates: 

April 20, 2011 (Australia), April 21, 2011 (United Kingdom), April 29, 2011 (United States)

Who would have thought when The Fast And The Furious was released back in 2001 that this movie would kick of a very successful five movie franchise that would last a decade.

Well that is exactly what has happened as Vin Diesel and Paul Walker are back in Fast Five - with Justin Lin returning to direct a third movie in the series.

Since Brian and Mia Toretto (Brewster) broke Dom out of custody, they’ve blown across many borders to elude authorities.

Now backed into a corner in Rio de Janeiro, they must pull one last job in order to gain their freedom.
As they assemble their elite team of top racers, the unlikely allies know their only shot of getting out for good means confronting the corrupt businessman who wants them dead. But he’s not the only one on their tail.

Hard-nosed federal agent Luke Hobbs (Johnson) never misses his target. When he is assigned to track down Dom and Brian, he and his strike team launch an all-out assault to capture them.

But as his men tear through Brazil, Hobbs learns he can’t separate the good guys from the bad. Now, he must rely on his instincts to corner his prey…before someone else runs them down first.

We all know what we are going to get when we watch the latest instalment of this franchise - fast plot, fast cars, great stunts and heart pounding action; and that is exactly what we get fifth time around.

Except director Justin Lin has pushed the boat out even further this time around everything is just bigger and boulder - resulting in Fast Five being an all out action ride.

The great thing about this movie is it never takes itself too seriously - Lin and the cast know what this franchise is about delivering the action, the speed as well as the cars perfectly.

Sure there is some attempt of bringing a more human story to the film and develop some of the character’s relationships further but that never becomes the focus of Fast Five.

And it’s not all about the cars this time around as Lin has turned Fast Five more into a heist movie - part way through you would be forgiven for thinking that you were watching Ocean’s Eleven - until the director throws in a jaw dropping car chase at the end.

Despite being the fifth movie in the series this franchise has not run out of gas and it’s not scraping the bottom of the barrel it’s an exciting, adrenaline fuelled ride that proved some great twists and thrilling action.

It’s great to see Vin Diesel and Paul Walker returning to the roles of Dom and Brian and they are joined this time round by Dwayne Johnson - who is perfectly cast as harass Hobbs; a federal agent who has been sent to track them down.

Ok so the end is perhaps a little bit predictable but that doesn’t mean that getting there wasn’t a great ride.

Fast Five is a great addition to the franchise and I wouldn’t rule out further movies if this finds success at the box office.

Fast Five - Action Blackbuster is Coming With Paul Walker,Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson

Several videos on its media Web site that take viewers inside the filming of Fast Five and the stunt Dodge Chargers that were used in the movie.

The first video includes the ripped Vin Diesel talking about the final scene in the movie, which involves a modified, matte black 2011 Dodge Charger dragging a bank vault like a ball and chain around the streets of Puerto Rico. Tom Laymac, a Dodge tech supervisor on set, also explains how they had to force 1st gear to have more consistent acceleration.

"We eliminate some of the safety features, and the [Charger] is the perfect stunt car," said Dennis McCarthy, the car coordinator for the film.

The next video includes both Paul Walker and Ralph Gilles, president and CEO of Dodge. We learn Fast Five will feature new and old Dodge Chargers, ranging from the mean muscle cars of the late 1960s and early 1970s to 2010-'11 model years.

All the Chargers in the movie have a matte black paint job and all-wheel drive, and are tweaked with torque equally distributed in the front and rear. Some of the cars used in the film are prototypes Universal specifically for Fast Five.

Fast Five is directed by Justin Lin and stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson and, new this time around, Dwayne Johnson.

Fast Five Trailer