FastFurious4Fast and Furious sped away from expectations to gross a humongous $72.5 mil, according to early estimates from Media by Numbers. That result is effectively double what most industry observers had predicted for the debut of the fourth feature in Vin Diesel’s car franchise, and it left in the dust a number of notable records:

According to ew.com, these are the records defeated this weekend:

*Best April opening ever, beating Anger Management’s $42.2 mil
* Best Universal Pictures opening ever (three-day), beating The Lost World: Jurassic Park’s $72.1 mil
* Best F&F franchise opening ever, beating 2 Fast 2 Furious‘ $50.5 mil
* Best opening yet in 2009, easily beating the bows of the more-buzzed-about Monsters vs. Aliens ($59.3 mil) and Watchmen ($55.2 mil)
* Best opening ever for stars Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jordana Brewster, as well as for director Justin Lin

It was the best opening ever for a car-themed movie, beating Cars‘ $60.1 million. The film received an impressive solid A- CinemaScore review from an audience that was 57 per cent male and 59 per cent over age 25. This is a history-making premiere that you may well be hearing about for a long time to come.






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