Furious 7 smashes Hollywood records, brings in $384 million to date

The original The Fast and the Furious film was a bit of a surprise hit, bringing in $144 million domestically on an $38 million budget. It made over $207 million worldwide.

Furious 7 is already a much larger success.

The film brought in $143 million in its opening weekend domestically, while making $240 million in the foreign market for a total of $384 million to date. This is the largest opening for any film in April, the largest for the franchise, and the ninth largest film opening in history.

"...That's without any help from China, Japan and Russia, where it will open in the next few weeks," Box Office Mojo reported. "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."

The film's huge numbers are also more evidence that diverse casts lead to larger audiences. "The movie's success was driven by minority audiences: 25% of the weekend's ticket buyers were white, 37% were Hispanic, 24% were African American, and 10% were Asian," CNN Money stated. "44% of the film's moviegoers were also under the age of 25."

If you feel like you should get caught up before going to see the movie, be sure to check out our timeline of the series' rich, complex story and characters. The next film will be set in New York.