FINAL UPDATE, 2:17 PM: As Deadline predicted this morning, Universal Pictures’ Furious 7 power-shifted to a final cume of a better than expected $147.1M with a Sunday gross that came in much stronger than hoped with a total of $33.2M. All told, this motorhead mash-up’s opening-weekend tallied a whopping $392.2M worldwide. It has broken several box office records both for the studio, the industry and for Imax, where it also brought in a better than expected $13.3M (see below). The force of F7‘s success has pushed the overall domestic box office up by 7% and the year-to-year Easter weekend up 36%.

The Highway Star has nothing on the track to stop its run until May 1 when The Avengers: Age Of Ultron bows. The question is how well will this F7 hold in its second weekend and what kind of multiple will it garner? It will still be holding tight to most of its Imax screens so that is good news as it did exceptionally well in 2D.

Opening next weekend is only one wide release, Fox’s The Longest Ride, based on the Nicholas Sparks novel of the same name. As usual for a Sparks movie, it is heavily appealing to the female demo and stars Scott Eastwood, Britt Robertson and Jack Huston. So this should not even be F7’s rearview mirror. The Weinstein Company’s Woman in Gold, which debuted in the Top 10 on only 258 screens, will also expand this weekend to 1,200 theaters.

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Here’s the Top 20 chart.

1). Furious 7 (UNI), 4,004 theaters / 3-day cume: $147.1M / Per screen average: $36,760/ Wk 1

2). Home (FOX/DW), 3,801 theaters (+93) / 3-day cume: $27M (-48%) / Per screen: $7,106 / Total cume: $95.2M / Wk 2

3). Get Hard (WB), 3,212 theaters (+37) / 3-day cume: $13.1M (-61%) / Per screen: $4,087 / Total cume: $57.2M / Wk 2

4). Cinderella (DIS), 3,404 theaters (-411) / 3-day cume: $10.17M / Per screen: $ 2,990 / Total cume: $167.1M / Wk 4

5). Insurgent (LG), 3,442 theaters (-433) / 3-day cume: $10.1M / Per screen: $2,942 / Total cume: $103.5M / Wk 3

6). It Follows (RAD), 1,655 theaters (+437) / 3-day cume: $2.5M / Per screen: $1,519 / Total cume: $8.58M / Wk 4

7). Woman In Gold (TWC), 258 theaters (+230) / 3-day cume: $2M / Per screen: $8,107 / Total cume: $2.18M / Wk 1

8). Kingsman: The Secret Service (FOX), 1,327 theaters (-458) / 3-day cume: $1.8M / Per screen: $1,363 / Total cume: $122.36M / Wk 8

9). Do You Believe? (PF), 1,218 theaters (-138) / 3-day cume: $1.5M / Per screen: $1,268 / Total cume: $9.85M / Wk 3

10). The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (FSL), 1,060 theaters (-438) / 3-day cume: $1M / Per screen: $1,019 / Total cume: $30.1M / Wk 5

11). Run All Night (WB), 1,015 theaters (-1,362) / 3-day cume: $635K / Per screen: $626 / Total cume: $25.29M / Wk 4

12). American Sniper (WB), 623 theaters (-347) / 3-day cume: $628K / Per screen: $1,008 / Total cume: $346.3M / Wk 15

13). McFarland, USA (DIS), 703 theaters (-423) / 3-day cume: $618K / Per screen: $880 / Total cume: $41.77M / Wk 7

14). While We’re Young (A24), 34 theaters (+30) / 3-day cume: $483K / Per screen: $14,226 / Total cume: $789K / Wk 2

15). Focus (WB), 625 theaters (-635) / 3-day cume: $448K / Per screen: $717 / Total cume: $52.8M / Wk 6

16). The Gunman (OPRD), 1,027 theaters (-1,789) / 3-day cume: $385K / Per screen: $375 / Total cume: $10M / Wk 3

17). Danny Collins (BLEEKER ST), 83 theaters (+54) / 3-day cume: $347K / Per screen: $4,191 / Total cume: $735K / Wk 3



18). Detective Byomkesh Bakshy (YASH RAJ), 84 theaters / 3-day cume: $338K / Per screen: $4,130 / Wk 1

19). SpongeBob SquarePants (PAR), 482 theaters (-872) / 3-day cume: $253K / Per screen: $526 / Total cume: $160.8M / Wk 9

20). Fifty Shades Of Grey (Uni), 381 theaters (-173) / 3-day cume: $245K / Per screen: $656 / Total cume: $165.4M / Wk 8

6TH UPDATE: Monday, 9:27 AM: Furious 7 raced beyond even the highest expectations this weekend to gross $146.5M, with some sources thinking it could go even higher (could it push to $148M?), once all the smaller markets are added in. The franchise picture not only broke multiple records this holiday weekend, but also played better than anyone expected on Sunday to shirk the traditional Easter Weekend movie going model. From its explosive $15.8M Thursday preview through to a stronger than expected Sunday, dropping only about 30%, F7 has taken its seat in box office history. The Sunday gross … wait for it, is estimated to be $32M to $33M alone. Also, thanks largely to F7, the overall weekend box-office saw an estimated 36% increase over 2014. For IMAX, it also means a record-setting $20.8 million on 540 screens worldwide, making it IMAX’s highest-ever debut in April.

5TH UPDATE, Sunday, 7:10 AM: Welcome to the record books, Furious 7, and the industry can thank the testosterone-charged film for boosting the year-to-year box office by 33%. After dipping a bit following a front-loaded Good Friday, Universal is estimating Furious 7 will end the weekend’s race with $143.6M, which figures in a better-than- standard 35% drop on Sunday for a picture such as this – maybe only 31%.

Others, however, think the street-racing picture will end up higher than $145M. The picture burst into theaters on Thursday with $15.8M (which is figured into the Friday total) and that pushed it into high gear for the weekend. Now for the records (and there are many):

Furious 7, directed by James Wan and produced by Neal Moritz and Vin Diesel, revs to the biggest April opening ever (first time a film has opened past $100M), the highest opening ever and best Friday and Saturday for the Universal Pictures; second-largest pre-summer bow in history (behind only 2012’s Hunger Games); the largest opening so far of 2015; and the largest opening of all the Fast and Furious films. In fact, it open 48% higher the franchise’s previous best, Fast and Furious 6, which had a $97.3M opening in 2013.

It is not only the biggest Easter-weekend opening ever and pushed the overall box office to a first-ever total of more than $200M, but also is the highest debut since November 2013 when Hunger Games: Catching Fire opened to $158M. F7 propelled the 2015 Easter weekend past 2010, the previous best year, with a estimated total of $217M (up a big 22%).

“Originally, we planned to release the picture last July, but that wasn’t going to happen, so we thought of April because opening on Good Friday has proven historically to be a very good thing to do,” said Nick Carpou, Universal Pictures’ president of domestic distribution. As we have reported already a couple of times, the Easter weekend holiday traditionally plays out with a very strong Friday followed by a fall-off and a slower Sunday as people typically spend the day with family. The one caveat is that 80% of kids are out of school.

“Being first in the marketplace this year with such a big franchise certainly helped us,” said Carpou. “There’s four weeks before the next big blockbuster, so our picture will have time to play.”

He’s referring to, of course, Marvel/Disney’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron, which bows May 1.

Asked about what kind of multiple the studio expected for Furious 7, Carpou said, “With an A CinemaScore and great exit polls, it should continue to do well over time.”

Exit polls showed that the film played equally well for males and females, with a demo make-up of 44% under age 25. It was driven by Hispanics, who comprised 37% of attendees, with 25% Caucasian and 24% African American. An A CinemaScore usually carries with it an average 3.6 multiple but industry analysts think Furious may fall off more quickly.

After receiving the widest release in both IMAX’s and the studio’s history, about $14M of its gross (roughly 10%) came from IMAX’s 365 screens. Furious rallied to an overall per screen of $35K to $36K. On IMAX screens, the per was $38K. For both the box office and IMAX, F7 bested Captain America: The Winter Soldier’s previous April record by 52%. It also ranked as the second-best 2D opening ever (after The Dark Knight Rises) for IMAX, which took in $19m. More than 50 IMAX screens set individual daily records and the company’s screens accounted for eight of the Top 10 and 17 of the Top 20 theaters.

The other 400 reporting PLF screens represented about 8% of the weekend gross on the film, or $11.5 million – also a new record high for premium large-format screens. The previous PLF record gross was Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1 with $9.8 million.

Besides the obvious champions of Moritz, Diesel and Wan, Deadline would like to give a shout out to some unsung heroes behind this monster hit, including Universal’s co-president of production Jeffrey Kirschenbaum, who is the key lead on all the Fast films; Jay Polidoro, a junior production executive on the films; Jeff LaPlante, the head of physical production who had a mighty job to handle; and Jennifer Bell, who is the studio’s executive in charge of VFX. Also, don’t want to forget the writers, who are often overlooked. So kudos to Chris Morgan and Gary Scott Thompson.

Overseas, Furious 7 has also busted some records and is climbing towards $400M worldwide already. For all the latest, read my colleague Nancy Tartaglione’s international box office report here.

F7 also opens as the ninth-highest film in history behind other well-known franchises such as Harry Potter, The Avengers, Iron Man and the Twilight Saga. All of those, however, are based on books or comic books, whereas the Fast and Furious franchise was an original concept.

This was also Paul Walker‘s final film. He died tragically in 2013 in a car accident, after his friend lost control of the speeding Porsche and crashed. This movie appeals to such a wide range of kids. It’s unfortunate that people emulate reckless behavior from movies as street-racing accidents and deaths occur every year in this nation and, in fact, there have been some in the last few days. It would have been nice to see some of these stars with huge social-media followings encourage others, especially kids who look up to them, to drive responsibly.

One of the more interesting tie-ins was about just this – a street-racing video game. Microsoft’s Xbox teamed up with Furious 7 to give gamers free downloads of a stand-alone expansion of their newest Forza racing game, Horizon 2 through April 10. Forza is the top multi-user racing title on the Xbox.

For the rest of the line-up, we so far see a fair amount of agreement, with two films in their second weekends showing opposite results. DreamWorks Animation’s Home held steady, dropping about 49% as it added another $26.7M to $27M+ to its total cume of around $94.9M to $95.6M.

In the third spot Get Hard – the R-rated buddy comedy starring Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart – which went soft with a 63% drop. It will end the three-day weekend with about $12.6M to $12.9M and has taken $56.7M to date.

The other opener was Woman in Gold, starring Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds, which opened on a Wednesday and then added theaters on Friday. It should end with the three-day weekend with around $2M for The Weinstein Co. and made it into the Top Ten for a No. 7 slot. It’s per screen is around $7,767.

In the fourth spot, Cinderella from Disney is expected to conjure up another $10.2M to build its coffers to $167.2M in its fourth week of release. It’s now on the verge of crossing $400M worldwide.

The last film in the Top Five goes to Lionsgate’s The Divergent Series: Insurgent, which is expected to bring in $9.8M to $10M for the weekend. It has, as earlier reported, broken the $100M mark domestically now after three weekends in release. With $120.2M internationally, it now stands at about $223M+ worldwide.

While We’re Young, the Noah Baumbach-directed comedy starring Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts, had another strong week with a per-screen average of $14K for distributor A24. For more on that, check out my colleague’s Brian Brooks specialty box office story. The Top Ten chart follows:

Amanda N’Duka contributed to these reports.

1). Furious 7 (UNI), 4,004 theaters / $67.5M Fri. / $46.2M to $46.5M Sat. (-31%) / $30.2M to $32M Sun. (-31% to 35%) / 3-day cume: $143.6M to $145M / Wk 1

2). Home (FOX/DW), 3,801 theaters (+93) / $11.3M Fri. / $9.7M Sat. (-14%) / $5.8M to $6M Sun. (-37%) / 3-day cume: $26.7M to $27M+ (-49%) / Total cume: $94.9M / Wk 2

3). Get Hard (WB), 3,212 theaters (+37) / $4.9M Fri. / $4.78M Sat. (-4%) / $2.8M Sun. (-40%) / 3-day cume: $12.6M to $12.9M (-63%) / Total cume: $56.7M / Wk 2

4). Cinderella (DIS), 3,404 theaters (-411) / $4.1M Fri. / $3.8M Sat. (-7%) / $2.2M to $2.4M Sun. (-40%) / 3-day cume: $10.2M / Total cume: $167.2M / Wk 4

5). Insurgent (LG), 3,442 theaters (-433) / $4M Fri. / $3.7M Sat. (-5%) / 3-day cume: $9.8M to $10M / Total cume: $103.2M / Wk 3

6). It Follows (RAD), 1,655 theaters (+437) / $919K Fri. / $970K Sat. (+5%) / $582K Sun. (-40%) / 3-day cume: $2.4M / Total cume: $8.5M / Wk 4

7). Woman in Gold (TWC), 258 theaters (+230) / $613K Fri. / $795K Sat. (+30%) / $596 Sun. (-25%) / 3-day cume: $2M / Total cume: $2.1M

8). Kingsman: The Secret Service (FOX), 1,327 theaters (-458) / $635K Fri. / $670K Sat. (+5%) / $382K Sun. (-43%) / 3-day cume: $1.68M to $1.7M / Total cume: $122.2M / Wk 8

9). Do You Believe? (PF), 1,218 theaters (-138) / $535K Fri. / $515K Sat. (-4%) / $438K Sun. (-15%) / 3-day cume: $1.48M / Total cume: $9.78M / Wk 3

10). The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (FSL), 1,060 theaters (-438) / $355K Fri. / $409K Sat. (-15%) / $229K Sun. (-44%) / 3-day cume: $988K to $1M / Total cume: $30M / Wk 5

4th UPDATE, Saturday, 11:22 PM: Easter weekend is playing out as it has traditionally with a front-loaded Good Friday and moviegoing across the board dipping more than predicted, affecting all pictures as we head into Easter Sunday. The three-day gross for Furious 7 has been readjusted to anywhere between $142M and $147M. Regardless, the last Paul Walker film to grace theaters is a blacktop juggernaut as it has smoked all previous franchise installment openings. It will sit comfortably in many of the record books when the exhaust clears on Sunday morning, as we have reported below. Well done, Universal, producer Neal Moritz, director James Wan and Mark Sinclair … er, we mean Vin Diesel. By the way, good choice of stage name and can’t think of a better one for this particular franchise.



The rest of the Top Five follow. The numbers will change in the morning as more estimates arrive.

1). Furious 7 (UNI), 4,004 theaters / $67.5M Fri. / $44.1M to $45.2M Sat. (-28% to 33%) / 3-day cume: $142M to $147M / Wk 1

2). Home (FOX/DW), 3,801 theaters (+93) / $11.4M Fri. / $9M Sat. (-21%) / 3-day cume: $25.8M to $26.1M (-48% to 50%) / Total cume: $93.7M to $94.1M / Wk 2

3). Get Hard (WB), 3,212 theaters (+37) / $4.9M Fri. / $4.5M Sat. (-7%) / 3-day cume: $12.1M (-64%) / Total cume: $56.2M / Wk 2

4/5). Cinderella (DIS), 3,404 theaters (-411) / $4.1M Fri. / $3.65M Sat. (-13%) / 3-day cume: $10M / Total cume: $165M / Wk 4

Insurgent (LG), 3,442 theaters (-433) / $4M Fri. / $3.65M Sat. (-10%) / 3-day cume: $9.6M / Total cume: $103.2M / Wk 3

3rd UPDATE, Saturday 7:10 AM: It’s systematic. Hydromatic. Automatic. After burning rubber on Thursday night, Furious 7 came in right about where we had estimated last night as we thought it might edge between $148M and $150M with Universal Pictures thinking this AM that its greased lighting in a bottle could push to $149.5M. Others are thinking, depending on today’s moviegoing, it could race past $150M. It had a Friday night of between $67M and $68M (with $15.8M of that from its Thursday preview). While the nation’s top grossing theaters were in New York and Texas (see below for the specific locations), the smaller markets (many of those that Rentrak doesn’t cover) are also doing gangbuster business.

But remember, traditionally on Easter weekend, moviegoing peaks on Good Friday and then falls off throughout the rest of the weekend leading up to Easter Sunday — a day that families tend to stay home together.

It is already breaking all sorts of records (see below) and if the street racing picture holds to only a 25% drop today and tonight, we are looking at the James Wan-directed installment edging ever so close to the title of largest pre-summer bow; 2012’s Hunger Games currently holds that crown with $152.5M. The success of the furious beast may push the year-to-year domestic box office up around 36% to 39% from last year which, itself, was up 8% from 2013. Internationally, it has already grossed $120.6M and there are two more days to go … so the weekend could see this baby climb over $300M.

RELATED: ‘Furious 7’ Clocks $120.6M Offshore After Universal’s Biggest Friday Ever

Last weekend’s Top Ten moved down a notch after that. As more estimates come in this AM, Disney’s fairy tale Cinderella and Lionsgate’s The Divergent Series: Insurgent are still too close to call for the No. 4 spot. However, Home, which took No. 1 last weekend, is expected to drop 47% for second place to gross about $27.8M, while the comedy Get Hard is losing its strength to drop 60% for $13.5M. More to come as more estimates roll in.



The other opener is Woman in Gold which should bring in $1.8M for the weekend for The Weinstein Co. after a seventh-place showing on only 258 screens. Noteworthy is the Ben Stiller, Naomi Watts comedy While We’re Young which will end up with a per screen average of about $13K in limited release of only 34 locales.

Here’s the chart but numbers and positions will likely change in the morning.

1). Furious 7 (UNI), 4,004 theaters / $67M to $68M Fri. / 3-day cume: $149.5M to $152M / Wk 1

2). Home (FOX/DW), 3,801 theaters (+93) / $11.4M Fri. / 3-day cume: $27.8M (-47%) / Total cume: $95.7M to $96.1M / Wk 2

3). Get Hard (WB), 3,212 theaters (+37) / $4.8M to $5M Fri. / 3-day cume: $13.5M (-60%) / Total cume: $57.6M / Wk 2

4/5). Cinderella (DIS), 3,404 theaters (-411) / $4.1M Fri. / 3-day cume: $9.6M to $11M / Total cume: $167M / Wk 4

Insurgent (LG), 3,442 theaters (-433) / $4M Fri. / 3-day cume: $10M+ (-52%) / Total cume: $103.6M / Wk 3

6). It Follows (RAD), 1,655 theaters (+437) / $917K Fri. / 3-day cume: $2.4M / Total cume: $8.45M / Wk 4

7). Woman in Gold (TWC), 258 theaters (+230) / $613K Fri. / 3-day cume: $1.8M / Total cume: $1.8M

8). Kingsman: The Secret Service (FOX), 1,327 theaters (-458) / $635K Fri. / 3-day cume: $1.7M / Total cume: $122.3M / Wk 8

9). Do You Believe? (PF), 1,218 theaters (-138) / $534K Fri. / 3-day cume: $1.5M / Total cume: $9.85M / Wk 3

10). The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (FSL), 1,060 theaters (-438) / $355K Fri. / 3-day cume: $1M / Total cume: $30.1M / Wk 5

2nd UPDATE, Friday, 11:13 PM: After a $15.8M turbo Thursday preview, Friday has shifted into overdrive with an expected $67M to $68M gross for Furious 7 which could put it anywhere around $148M to $150M. It will break records this weekend as the as biggest April opening ever as well as most likely the second-largest pre-summer bow in history only behind The Hunger Games ($152.5M), which debuted in March of 2012. It is also, to date, the biggest opening of 2015 — a year that is expected to be full of box office records. Furious 7 is also to be the biggest opening weekend of all the Fast and Furious franchise films, surpassing F6‘s opening $97.3M by roughly 43%. This installment received the widest release ever for both the studio (with 4,004 theaters) and on IMAX (with 365).



The biggest grossing theaters in the nation right now showing F7 are in New York and Texas. The top three are the Empire 25 (with IMAX) in New York, the Paladium 22 in Houston (with IMAX) and Paladium 19 (with IMAX) in San Antonio. The fourth and fifth biggest grossers are another theater in Houston and then LA Live in Los Angeles. And, AMC Fresh Meadows 7 in The Big Apple has been having to add showtimes around the clock to accommodate demand.

Internationally, the James Wan-directed F7 enjoyed the highest-grossing Thursday of all time in 15 territories and in two days has already grossed $60M. It was the top opener ever for Universal in 25 territories, including key markets of Australia, Brazil, Germany, Italy and Mexico.

The big question is how Furious 7 will hold up tomorrow. Will this picture make most of its money today and tonight? Well, with an A CinemaScore and mostly positive reviews, word of mouth should carry it well down the highway. And there is no competition from any other picture. The average multiple is 3.6, however industry observers are expecting it to fall off more quickly although there is nothing really challenging the film until May 1st when Marvel/Disney’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron bows. As unfortunate as Paul Walker’s death was in 2013 when the 40 year-old actor was in a speeding car when it crashed, his appearance in this movie is what many fans want to see.

Traditionally, moviegoing peaks on Good Friday and then falls off a bit on Easter Sunday because people tend to stay home with their families. This year, we have about 80% of kids flooding the marketplace so moviegoing will benefit from that. Will the traditional moviegoing pattern hold this year? We’ll see. Last year, we saw an 8% rise from the previous Easter holiday weekend. This year, fueled by the phenomenal success of F7 should be another nice year-to-year increase.

The other opener in the Top Ten is Woman in Gold (TWC) which bowed on Wednesday and then expanded this weekend to debut with what is expected to a $1.8M three-day weekend. The Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds period drama should make about $600K Friday.

DreamWorks Animation’s delightful family film Home in its second weekend is holding strong, expected only to drop 45%, to gross about $28.7M for distributor Fox. To date, it’s well on its way to crossing the $100M mark with a total cume expected in of $96.98M. It was well-received by its core audience last weekend with an A CinemaScore.

Meanwhile, Get Hard is getting soft. The comedy starring Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart, is going to have a 60% drop or so in its sophomore frame. The buddy comedy was not that well received by critics, but has pulled in roughly $57.6M. We expect around $12.8M this weekend.

The fourth and fifth spots are tough to call with the numbers that we currently have. Disney’s animated Cinderella looks like a $4.2M Friday for a weekend gross of $10M+ and Lionsgate’s Insurgent which grossed an estimated $4M today may end up around $10M+ as well. The good news for Insurgent, the second of Lionsgate’s hopeful franchise, is that it just crossed $100M in its third weekend of release. It will pass $200M worldwide this weekend.

It Follows, the RADiUS art-house horror hybrid which added 437 theaters in its fourth weekend of expansion, still dropped around 47% from last weekend. Over the three-day with an estimated $2M+, the picture should make a total cume of $8M+ on what was considered a shoestring budget; it has implemented a grassroots marketing campaign in hopes of creating a cult following. This picture may gross a Friday take of of around $900K.

NOTEWORTHY: While We Were Young, the Ben Stiller, Naomi Watts comedy from A24, has a nice per screen average in its second weekend of release with what looks to be a little over $11K.

Here’s the chart but numbers and positions will likely change in the morning.

1). Furious 7 (UNI), 4,004 theaters / $67M to $68M Fri. / 3-day cume: $148M to $150M / Wk 1

2). Home (FOX/DW), 3,801 theaters (+93) / $11.7M Fri. / 3-day cume: $28.7M (-47%) / Total cume: $96.98M / Wk 2

3). Get Hard (WB), 3,212 theaters (+37) / $4.8M to $5M Fri. / 3-day cume: $12.8M (-61%) / Total cume: $57.6M / Wk 2

4/5). Cinderella (DIS), 3,404 theaters (-411) / $4.18M Fri. / 3-day cume: $10M+ / Total cume: $166.5M / Wk 4

Insurgent (LG), 3,442 theaters (-433) / $4M Fri. / 3-day cume: $10M+ (-52%) / Total cume: $103.7M / Wk 3

6). It Follows (RAD), 1,655 theaters (+437) / $900K Fri. / 3-day cume: $2M+ / Total cume: $8M+ / Wk 4

7). Woman in Gold (TWC), 258 theaters (+230) / $612K Fri. / 3-day cume: $1.8M / Total cume: $1.8M

8). Kingsman: The Secret Service (FOX), 1,327 theaters (-458) / $640K Fri. / 3-day cume: $1.8M / Total cume: $122.36M / Wk 8

9). Do You Believe? (PF), 1,218 theaters (-138) / $540K Fri. / 3-day cume: $1.75M / Total cume: $10M / Wk 3

10). The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (FSL), 1,060 theaters (-438) / $356K Fri. / 3-day cume: $1M / Total cume: $30.1M / Wk 5

UPDATED, Friday, 5:18 PM: Furious 7 Early Returns Shows Massive Friday

More early results have come in for Furious 7 and estimates have risen. Industry observers are now saying that Friday’s haul could be in the range of $56M to $60M with an upwards of $130M to $138M for the three-day weekend. Whether this will be a front-loaded Friday is yet unknown. If so, it could slink backwards a bit, closer to $130M. Regardless, this is a mash-up monster at the box office. The highest estimate we’ve heard today for F7‘s Easter weekend holiday tank is $145M. More to come as numbers roll in later this evening.

RELATED: Furious 7 Races to $60M After Two Days At International Box Office

PREVIOUSLY FRIDAY, 1:00 PM: It’s early … way early … but given the competition of reporting on box office and considering last night’s $15.8M haul, an early peek this afternoon at matinees shows Furious 7 is packing a punch in Friday moviegoing. Some box office observers are saying it looks like a $50M to $56M day for maybe a $125M three-day gross. Some think higher, like $130M. Furious 7 is enjoying the largest wide release in both Universal Studios and IMAX’s history and the fact that so many kids are in the marketplace today — about 80% of kids — who love this franchise. Also, no other wide releases opened this weekend so it was able to get together 4,003 playdates.

If this estimate holds, the franchise on nitrous will have blasted Captain America: The Winter Soldier from the track to take back its crown as biggest April opening ever. It could be the second-largest pre-summer bow in history only behind 2012’s The Hunger Games ($152.5M), which debuted on March 23rd. In 2010, Alice in Wonderland grabbed $116.1M when it was released on March 5.

It could be in the $120M to $125M range but some think, $130M or higher. It really depends on the late nights and also how many cylinders the picture will be running on tomorrow. In other words, will it be front-loaded? Once again, and we can’t stress this enough, it’s early. However, this is a movie that has a lot of goodwill, good reviews and a strong want-to-see factor, so it’s anyone’s guess right now what the final three-day gross will be once the dust clears on Monday morning.

Will post another update in a couple of hours when more numbers flow in. Stay tuned.