Weekend Report: 'Furious 7' Opens to $384 Million Worldwide

Furious 7 took the 14-year-old Fast franchise to the next level this weekend with a stunning $143.6 million debut.

That opening ranks ninth all-time behind The Avengers, Iron Man 3, the final Harry Potter, two Dark Knight movies, two Hunger Games and Spider-Man 3.

The movie also opened to an incredible $240 million overseas; that's without any help from China, Japan and Russia, where it will open in the next few weeks. So far, Furious 7 has earned $384 million worldwide, and is very likely on track to earn over $1 billion by the end of its run.

At the domestic box office, Furious 7's $143.6 million debut is 51 percent higher than Captain America: The Winter Soldier's $95 million, which was the previous April record holder. This is also the biggest debut in the franchise thus far, up a whopping 47 percent over Fast & Furious 6. Furious 7 earned $14 million on IMAX screens alone, which ranks second all-time for a 2D-only movie behind The Dark Knight Rises.

Furious 7's phenomenal success can be attributed to a few factors. Coming off Fast Five and Fast & Furious 6, the franchise clearly had a ton of momentum; instead of looking like a step backward, Furious 7 appeared to be the biggest installment yet. Universal also did a nice job pushing the "One Last Ride" tagline, which gave the sense that this may be the last opportunity to see a Fast & Furious movie (which almost certainly isn't the case, but still). It's also likely that the movie got a bump from fans eager to see Paul Walker's final on-screen performance, as he tragically passed away during production in late 2013.

The movie's audience was split evenly between men (51 percent) and women, and skewed a bit older (56 percent over the age of 25). According to Universal's exit polls, Hispanic moviegoers made up a whopping 37 percent of the audience this weekend.

Even if Furious 7 falls off quickly—for example, at the rate of the very front-loaded fourth installment—it's still guaranteed to make over $300 million total. With an "A" CinemaScore, strong reviews and zero competition for the next three weeks, it's likely that this plays a bit better than that; a total around $350 million is very possible.

In second place, DreamWorks Animation's Home (2015) fell 47 percent to an estimated $27.4 million. That drop is a bit steeper than Monsters Vs. Aliens (45 percent) and is way worse than The Croods (39 percent). Through 10 days, Home has earned $95.6 million.