The Rock and Vin Diesel's 'Fate of the Furious' broke a box office record

augustine ikenwa

April 19, 2017 7:38 AM

The F. Gary Gray-directed film has set the new standard for an opening weekend at the box office, besting the mark set by Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Vin Diesel and The Rock on set.

Sorry, Force Awakens

The numbers are in for the eighth installment of the high-octane Fast franchise, Fate of the Furious. Though it should be a surprise to pretty much no one, The Rock and Vin Diesel's blockbuster vehicle is a smash hit. However, the extent to which it is currently dominating the box office is raising eyebrows and breaking records.

The F. Gary Gray-directed film has set the new standard for an opening weekend at the box office, besting the mark set by Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Fate of the Furious pulled in $532 million, while Force Awakens nabbed $529 mil.

The movie's promotional cycle was marked by controversy, as a strange feud erupted between The Rock and Diesel, stemming from a disagreement which led The Rock to refer to Diesel as a "candy ass" on Facebook.

In recent weeks, the two appeared to bury the hatchet, perhaps paving the way for their film to capture the attention of millions. While the story didn't exactly crush in the United States, it did massively well on the global market, where it accrued $433.2 million of its total haul, per CNN.

This means it also broke Jurassic World's record for an international opening. In 2015, the dinosaur thriller made $316.7 million.

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