Furious 7 has made headlines left and right throughout the first half of 2015, what with its record breaking run helping contribute to Universal's banner year. As if the news for the film's place in the record books wasn't sweet enough, some new honey has been added to the pot. In addition to the countless cars and scores that Dominic Torretto and his family have made off with over seven films, they've now thieved something quite extraordinary into their clutches: the third highest international box office gross of all time.
Box Office Mojo’s recent numbers have revealed that the seventh entry in the Fast And Furious saga has now dethroned The Avengers for the third highest box office haul of all time. Just behind Avatar and Titanic, James Wan's action opus has arrived after dominating the beginning of the April box office and following through with some strong performances in the weeks that followed. Almost three months after its initial release, Furious 7 has signaled the franchise's legendary status in modern Hollywood, and it's an arrival that says a lot about the film market and the tastes of movie goers.
Just one month ago, it seemed like Avengers: Age Of Ultron would be a contender for the honor of second runner up against James Cameron's twin box office titans, and all of the prognosticators would have agreed with that prediction like a hand and glove. It wasn't long after Joss Whedon's swan song debuted at the box office that the tide looked like it had turned against the Marvel Cinematic Universe's "automatic" box office, with attendance paling in comparison to the preceding 2012 team up. This is the complete antithesis of the Furious 7 story, which has seen the franchise in constant incline since Fast And Furious in 2009.
So what does Furious 7's surprise success say about the tastes of the film market? Well, it suggests that the days of the bulletproof Marvel movie have come to a close, and that box office projections for future films like Ant-Man and even Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice should take possible spoilers like Furious 7 into serious account when trying to peg where they fall in the pecking order. Though the performance of Vin Diesel's latest film will definitely reinforce the believe that sequels are automatic money printers, so really it's the same school of thought – just applied to a different genre of film.
However, even Furious 7 isn't immune to the competition, as its record for being the fastest film to $1 billion has already been beaten by fellow surprise juggernaut Jurassic World. This leads us to believe that maybe 2015 is just a competitive year in general, and perhaps the public isn't as fatigued with superhero films as Avengers: Age Of Ultron may have us believe. We're inclined to agree with this train of thought, as it's very possible that Jurassic World could make the third spot before Star Wars: The Force Awakens possibly steals it away this December.
For now though, it's very interesting to watch this horse race of box office stakes, if anything to see where everyone ends up at the end of the day. Furious 7 might not be showing at a theater near you right now, but it will be on DVD, Blu-ray, and Digital HD on September 15th.
