1. Furious 7- $60.6M/$252.5M
With only one major new release on the schedule, and it being a Nicholas Sparks romance guys will largely avoid, it was a given that Furious 7 would be #1 for a second week. With an additional $60.6M it has become the top-grossing domestic film of 2015 with $252.5M, and all of that while dropping 58% from last week. Goes to show the power of a strong opening weekend. Worldwide it has proven to be even more ferocious, hitting $800M in record time on what is sure to be a blazing path to $1B. By any measure it is the top-grosser of the street racing series, which is remarkable for a 14-year-old franchise. And it's basically got a clear path until Avengers: Age of Ultron arrives in a few weeks, so we may be underselling how the final numbers ultimately turn out.
2. Home- $19M/$129M
3. The Longest Ride (review here)- $13.5M
Like some kind of karmic retribution, Nicholas Sparks' The Longest Ride arrived this weekend to make up for last week's bro-tacular Furious 7. The teary-eyed romance opened with $13.5M which is on the low end of the Sparks spectrum, with the high end the $22M earned by Zac Efron's The Lucky One in 2012. So altogether these numbers aren't atrocious or anything, especially when you think of the cast. Scott Eastwood? Sure, your female friends on Facebook may be sharing photos of his abs everywhere now but he's hardly a draw. Britt Robertson? Jack Huston? All unproven. And unfortunately most of the kids probably have no idea who Alan Alda is. Overall we've been seeing lower results for these movies with last year's The Best of Me topping out at $35M. The Longest Ride may come close to that, but maybe the audience is starting to rebel? If you've seen one Sparks film you've seen them all.
4. Get Hard- $8.6M/$71.2M
5. Cinderella- $7.2M/$180.7M
6. The Divergent Series: Insurgent- $6.8M/$114.8M
7. Woman in Gold- $5.8M/$9.3M
After a solid debut, the Helen Mirren art-world drama Woman in Gold expanded into wide release and it paid off. The film added an additional 1246 theaters, earning $5.8M for the older-skewing crowd pleaser.
8. It Follows- $2M/$11.7M
9. Danny Collins (review here)- $1.6M/$2.4M
Moving up into the top 10 after four weeks of release is the Al Pacino dramedy, Danny Collins, from Crazy Stupid Love writer Dan Fogelman. The film has released mostly solid reviews, including my own, and is another that will be a welcome escape for old audiences who want nothing to do with Furious 7.
10. While We're Young (review here)- $1.3M/$2.3M
Another film that will be seeking its payoff from the art-house crowd is Noah Baumbach's While We're Young, which is unfortunate since its his most accessible film yet. Led by Ben Stiller, Naomi Watts, Adam Driver, and Amanda Seyfried, it follows an older couple stuck in a rut who are reinvigorated by a younger pair. Baumbach has never had a film gross more than $7M total but he's well on his way to besting that.
