Fast X’s box office opening thrashes Guardians of the Galaxy 3

With its April 2023 release, Universal's Super Mario is the biggest movie of the year and the studio seems to be following it up with Fast X. The film is on its way to becoming Universal's second-biggest film of 2023. Opening on May 19, it has collected some serious cash from the worldwide box office, scoring its third-biggest global opening ever.

At the domestic box office, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 had the top spot for two weeks. However, Fast X dethroned the Marvel movie with its strong entry into the summer on the back of Jason Momoa’s Joker-like performance as Dante Reyes.

---

The opening box office of Fast X

Vin Diesel in the latest Fast & Furious film (Image via Universal)

Vin Diesel’s latest outing was projected to make $60 million from North America and around $235 million from 81 other counties in its first three days. This would bring its opening total to around $300 million. However, the film has beaten these projections and made $67.5 million with its domestic opening and raced to $318.9 million globally.

The $67.5 million domestic opening sits right behind F9’s $70 million opening. It is bigger than Hobbs & Shaw, but is actually the lowest debut for a main franchise entry since 2006’s The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. However, the success of the Fast Saga has never been seen with its domestic intake.

With its global opening of $318.9 million Fast X has pulled off the third biggest numbers of the franchise. The film sits behind The Fate of the Furious ($541 million worldwide opening) and Furious 7 ($397.6 million worldwide opening). It is also the second biggest global debut, slotting after Universal’s Super Mario Bros. ($377 million global opening) and ahead of Guardians 3 ($282 million global opening).

---

Fast X’s Chinese success

A still from the latest Fast & Furious film (Image via Universal)

The good thing about Vin Diesel’s latest film is that it got another powerful debut in China, making $78 million. Every Fast Saga movie since Furious 7 has made more than $200 million and has always beaten the US box office numbers. So, Fast X is also expected to do exactly the same.

However, despite the big global opening, Fast X could find itself in serious trouble because it was the most expensive film of the franchise. Due to the exit of original director Justin Lin just a week after shooting began, the production was halted for a while and the budget shot up to $340 million with Louis Leterrier’s hiring.

It also doesn’t help that US-based studios only get back around 20% of a film’s total Chinese intake as their revenue. So, Fast X is in dire need to be a Billion Dollar hit, which it certainly won’t be.

---

Meanwhile, Guardians 3 continues its success

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 lineup (Image via Marvel)

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 made $114 million on its domestic opening and continued its strong performance in the second weekend with $62 million (just a 47.6% drop). Now competing with Fast 10 in its third weekend, it was obviously going to lose. However, it still held its ground and only suffered a drop of 48.4%, adding another $32 million to the total.

As for the worldwide overhaul, Guardians of the Galaxy 3 stands at $660 million after three weekends. It is just a little over $100 million behind Vol. 1 ($773 million worldwide) and about $200 million behind Vol. 2 ($863 million).

With its ongoing run, it will surely beat the original. However, because of the incoming competition from The Little Mermaid, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and The Flash, it might fall short of Vol. 2. That being said, in the longer run, its numbers might be more than Fast X. So, that’s a win for Disney against Universal.