'Fast X' zooms to capture box-office bucks for weekend
Fast X (NASDAQ:CMCSA) zoomed to the lead at the weekend box office as expected, as moviegoers lined up for the tenth entry in the long-running (and long-racing) franchise.
The film grossed $67.5M in domestic theaters, according to Comscore -- more than enough to topple Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (NYSE:DIS), which shed another half of last week's business to land at $32M in its third weekend on screen, good enough for second place.
It's overseas where Fast X may really make bank. It added some $251.4M in international markets for the week, bringing its worldwide total to $318.9M, according to Comscore. In the key market of China in particular, it piled up more than $77M in five days, Variety reported, making it the biggest opening there for a non-Chinese film this year.
But the film was notably expensive (with a reported $340M production budget), so it will take a few more strong outings to reach a profit.
For its part, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (DIS) is up to $266.5M cumulative domestically and a solid $659.1M on a worldwide basis.
Other than Fast X, the weekend's ticket sales were a story of holdovers. The Super Mario Bros. Movie (CMCSA), 2023's biggest hit, was third-best over the weekend, adding $9.8M to its pile, and finished just ahead of Book Club: The Next Chapter (CMCSA), with $3M in its sophomore weekend.
The next films on the gross list: Evil Dead Rise (NASDAQ:WBD), with $2.4M; John Wick: Chapter 4 (LGF.A) (LGF.B) with $1.332M; and Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret (LGF.A) (LGF.B) with $1.326M.
Cinema tickers: AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC); Cineworld (OTCPK:CNNWQ); Cinemark (CNK); (IMAX); Marcus (MCS); Reading International (RDI); Cineplex (CGX:CA); National CineMedia (NCMI).