Actor Vin Diesel pictured at the premiere of Furious 7 at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood earlier this month.
Reuters/Los Angeles
Nothing, it seems, and certainly not Blake Lively, can get Furious 7 to slam on the brakes.
The mega-grossing sequel took the top spot at the weekend box office with $18.2mn, becoming the first film to come in first for four consecutive weekends since The Hunger Games in March of 2012.
Furious 7 is one of only 29 films to pull off the feat. Its winning streak will almost certainly draw to a close next weekend when Avengers: Age of Ultron enjoys what most analysts project will be an opening of more than $200mn. Domestically, Furious 7 has earned $320.5mn.
Although it could not elbow Furious 7 from its perch atop the box office chart, Lively's fantasy romance Age of Adaline scored a respectable $13.4mn from 2,991 locations.
The Lionsgate/Lakeshore release had been projected to pull in $12mn and cost $30mn to produce. Reviews for Age of Adaline were mixed, but the picture still managed to secure a third-place finish primarily by appealing to females, who comprised 75% of the opening weekend crowd. 58% of ticket buyers were over 25.
The film co-stars Ellen Burstyn and Harrison Ford in the story of a woman who suffers an accident that keeps her perpetually 29 years old.
Despite pot shots from Seth MacFarlane, Sony's Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 held up better than many analysts projected, finishing second in its sophomore weekend with around $15.3mn. The critically derided comedy has earned $40mn through Sunday, topping its $30mn production budget.
Animated hit Home scored fourth place, while Unfriended rounded out the top five with a $6.2mn finish, driving its stateside total to $25.2mn
Ex Machina solidified its place among the year's biggest specialty hits, expanding from 39 to 1,255 screens and earning $5.4mn in the process. The A24 release has made $6.9mn in three weeks.
Among new releases, Russell Crowe's directorial debut The Water Diviner bowed to $1.2mn from 320 theatres.
