Green Means Go!: Fast & Furious Sets Records with $72.5 Mil Haul
Fast & Furious, the fourth installment of the Fast and the Furious franchise and the first follow-up reuniting all four stars of the 2001 original — Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster — topped the box office with a $72.5 million opening weekend, 2009's best debut to date.
To achieve that honor, Fast & Furious shattered the $59.3 million mark set just last weekend by Monsters vs. Aliens, which dropped to second place this cycle with a $33.5 million haul.
Fast & Furious also set a record for an April opening, besting the $42.2 million collected in 2003 by Anger Management.
All told, this weekend's box office was up 68 percent from the same period last year. Year-to-date and factoring in higher ticket prices, movie attendance is 12.8 percent ahead of 2008.
Rounding out this weekend's top five were The Haunting in Connecticut ($9.6 million), Knowing ($8.1 mil) and I Love You, Man ($7.9 mil).
The weekend's other new wide release, Adventureland starring Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen "Twilight! Eeeee!" Stewart, debuted at No. 6 with $6 million.
