furious 7 has raced to  the top of the domestic box office, picking up a massive $1436  million in its opening weekend the film has also established a new high water mark for the month of  april, blowing past the $95 million debut of captain america:  the winter soldier, and now stands as the highest grossing opening for any film in the fast and furious franchise it also ranks  ninth among the top ten openings in history much as the dark knight turned into a memorial for heath  ledger, audiences flocked to see star paul walker in one of his  final roles scroll down for video  furious 7 has raced to the top of the domestic box office chart, picking up a massive $1436million in its opening weekend  audiences flocked over the weekend to see actor paul walker in one of his final roles before his untimely death in 2013 at the age of 40  the actor died in a 2013 car crash at the age of 40  and his work on the film was completed using digital technology  and a series of stand ins 'this is a bittersweet installment in the franchise,' said  phil contrino, vice president and chief analyst at  boxofficecom '[walker's] passing made this movie more  intriguing for people who hadn't seen some of the installments it raised awareness and its success is a tribute to him' universal pictures spared no expense in bringing the latest  chapter in the fast cars and gravity defying stunts series to  the big screen, shelling out $190 million on the production it opened in 4,003 north american theaters, earning $14 million  on 365 imax screens and $115 million from premium large format  screens going into the weekend, most analysts estimated that  the film would open in the $115 million range foreign numbers were just as strong internationally, the film  rolled out across 10,500 screens in 63 territories, earning  $2404 million 'this is the next member of the billion dollar club and  that's a rarefied place to be,' said contrino 'this thing is on  fire' furious 7 stars tyrese gibson as roman, michelle rodriguez as letty, paul walker as brian and chris ludacris as tej  1 furious 7, $1436m  2 home, $274m  3 get hard, $129m  4 cinderella, $103m  5 the divergent series: insurgent, $10m  6 it follows, $25m  7 woman in gold, $2m  8 kingsman: the secret service, $17m  9 do you believe, $15m  10 the second best exotic marigold hotel, $1m  with an a cinemascore and strong reviews, furious 7 could  be one of the few modern blockbusters that hangs on for more  than a few weeks the month of april is lean on blockbuster fare  and furious 7 won't get serious competition until the  avengers: age of ultron debuts on may 1 the opening weekend crowd was impressively diverse, a  testament to a series that has drawn strength from its  multi cultural cast the audience was 51 percent male, 44 percent under age  25, 37 percent hispanic, 25 percent caucasian, 24 percent african american and 10 percent asian 'we're expanding our audience based on the diversity of  interest from different ethnic groups all buying into saga of  dom toretto and his family,' said nick carpou, universal's  president of domestic distribution, referencing the character  played by vin diesel last weekend's box office champion, dreamworks animation's home, showed impressive stamina, falling less than 50 percent the  animated tale picked up $274 million in its second week,  pushing its domestic total to $956 million in third place, r rated comedy get hard earned $129  million the will ferrell and kevin hart team up fell 62 percent from  its opening number, bringing its stateside haul to $57 million cinderella snagged a fourth place finish, picking up $103  million stateside to push its domestic bounty to $1673 million globally, the disney release is closing in on $400 million walker died in a single car accident on november 30, 2013 in his friend roger rodas's red 2005 porsche carrera gt  the car crashed into a concrete lamppost and two trees  in santa clarita, california, after which the vehicle burst into flames  the divergent series: insurgent rounded out the weekend  top five, nabbing $10 million and driving the film to $1034  million domestically among art house releases, noah baumbach's while we're  young expanded from four to 34 theaters, picking up $492,976 the a24 release has earned $791,450 in two weeks radius twc's it follows also continued to expand, moving  from 1,218 to 1,655, though its gross dipped 35 percent to $25  million the critically adored horror film has made $85 million  since debuting on march 13 the weinstein company was particularly bullish on the  reception for woman in gold, a drama about the fight to  recover art stolen by the nazis the film picked up $2 million  from 258 locations and will expand to between 800 and 1,000  venues this coming weekend 'the film is definitely poised for a long, long run,' said  erik lomis, the studio's distribution chief 'that's a really  solid start' thanks to furious 7, the overall box office reached $218  million, the first time that ticket sales have crossed $200  million over the easter weekend 'these huge results jump start momentum for the blockbuster,  summer season, suggesting that 2015 is shaping up to be  everything (and maybe even more) that the industry has been  hoping for,' said greg foster, ceo of imax entertainment
porsche carrera $115 million 2005 roger rodas's the month of april walker ninth paul walker gt 2013 almost $30m
the latest installment in the fast and furious franchise has smashed box office records for the month of april  it ranks ninth among the top ten openings in cinema history with audiences flocking to paul walker in one of his final roles before his death in 2013  analysts had estimated that it would open in the $115 million range, but it managed to earn almost $30m more  walker was killed in a single car accident when his friend roger rodas's red 2005 porsche carrera gt hit a lamppost and burst into flames 