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‘Fate Of The Furious’ Drives Toward $1B Global As Rest Of Stateside Biz Idles Ahead Of ‘Guardians 2’ – Box Office Preview

No shocker here: Universal’s The Fate of the Furious will own the weekend for the third time in a row in U.S/Canada with $24M-$25M, and by Saturday, around the world, it will rank as the 30th title ever to cross $1 billion at the box office.

For Universal, F8 will rep the seventh time this year out of 17 weekends that the studio has led the weekend box office. Previous runs at No. 1 for Uni include three weeks of Split, the weekend that Get Out opened, and the last two weekends of F8. U.S/Canada tally through yesterday for Fate of the Furious totaled $169.3M.

Pic’s global velocity this weekend can be attributed to parking in Japan, where the F. Gary Gray movie opens on Friday. Furious 7 finaled its gross there at $30.8M, the highest for the series in that territory. It will be the second time in the Fast and Furious franchise that a title has crossed the $1B mark after Furious 7 ($1.5B).

Despite F8‘s third week rally, expected overall domestic tickets sales to be down ever further after last weekend’s $107.4M. That was a 37% tumble from the weekend when F8 opened during April 14-16. The sun is brighter overseas where Disney’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 will touch down in 37 markets including France, Belgium, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. As Nancy Tartaglione reported this morning, it has already logged $6.6M from Australia, New Zealand and Italy. GotG Vol. 2 hits the U.S. next weekend when it’s expected to pull in $150M.

The next prolific wide release opening is EuropaCorp’s The Circle in 3,163 locations which is looking at an opening between $11M-$12M. Pic being handled by STX Entertainment which commenced a three-year distribution deal of EuropaCorp’s product back in January. The movie directed by James Ponsoldt stars Emma Watson who lands the dream job of her life at a tech company, which has a plan to damage the world under the leadership of an evil executive played by Tom Hanks. Pic premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival tonight. EuropaCorp acquired the movie for an estimated $8M after it was financed by Image Nation Abu Dhabi for $18M. STX is handling P&A and receives a distribution fee on the pic. Tracking shows The Circle is targeting 17-34 year olds who are drawn by the pressing, relevant and thought-provoking themes presented by the film.

Lionsgate’s Pantelion Eugenio Derbez’s next movie, the comedy How to Be a Latin Lover starring Derbez,Salma Hayek, Kristen Bell and Rob Lowe, and it’s expected to make between $7M-$8m. Derbez’s pics (like Tyler Perry’s) perform well on Sundays as its core audience heads to the movies after church, and in addition they play into suburban areas where there’s a heavy Hispanic concentration. Derbez delivered the family Mexican hit stateside three years ago Instructions Not Included which made close to $45M. Latin Lover is expected to be Pantelion’s widest release in the States (north of 1,110) after Instructions maxed at 978 sites. Instructions opened to $7.8M at 348 theaters with a powerful $22K per theater.

BH Tilt has their 2016 Sundance acquisition Sleight in 550 venues and it’s hoping to make $1M-$2M. The horror film is directed by J.D. Dillard and co-written by Dillard and Alex Theurer. Pic which was made for $250K revolves around a young street magician who is left to care for his little sister after their parents’ passing and turns to questionable activities to keep a roof over their heads. When he gets in too deep, his sister is kidnapped and he is forced to use his magic and brilliant mind to save her. Pic Jacob Latimore, Dule Hill, Seychelle Gabriel and Storm Reid.

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