‘Fast Five’ has turbocharged to No.1 spot at the film’s U.S. opening over the weekend at $83.6 million, making it the biggest film opening in April and breaking records for box office hits this year.

The fifth series of ‘Fast & Furious’ franchise - - featuring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, and Dwayne Johnson - - has also set the record for the biggest opening in April, outpacing even its fourth sequel ‘Fast & Furious’ released over a year ago. The fourth franchise had reportedly raked in $12.6 million shy of its opening at only $71 million in April 2009, according to the estimates made by the film distributor Universal Pictures.

In ‘Fast Five’ , Diesel and Walker who reunited with other actors form previous sequels - - Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris from ‘2 Fast 2 Furious ‘ and Sung Kang from ‘The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift’ - - were also joined by Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson as the federal agent out to get them.

And it looks like that the formula of the heart-pumping car chases with explosive actions on top of hot female co-stars had worked better when the film morphed into a heist film from the car race action flick.

“Summer began April 29," Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal said according to the Associated Press. "This was all about the right decisions we made, from the concept to the task. How this was made, that it's not just a car-racing movie, but making it into an action-heist movie. ...

He noted that the film offered a different form of storyline that will take the patrons into a whole new drive.

He said, 'This is not the same. This is new. You're going to love this, and it's going to open up a whole new world.'"

At the opening over the weekend, ‘Rio’ took the No. 2 spot after reigning the throne for two consecutive weeks since its opening with an impressive $39.2 million. Weekend estimates showed that ‘Rio’ collected only $14.4 million.

Taking the No. 3 spot at the box office is Lionsgate’s "Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family" at $10.1 million in its second weekend.

Among the films that opened over the weekend, only ‘Fast Five’ and ‘Prom’ had sped up to the top five but the high school film with its cast of young and largely unknown actors had collected only a poor $5 million ticket sales in its opening weekend at No. 5.

Here’s the list of the top ten movies at the box office from April 29 to May 1 according to Hollywood.com.
1. "Fast Five" (Universal): Opened to $83.6 million. $45.3 million in 14 foreign markets. International total: $81.4 million.

2. "Rio" (20th Century Fox): $14.4 million in its third weekend, down 45%. Domestic total: $103.6 million. $31.7 million in 67 foreign markets. International total: $263.1 million.

3. "Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family" (Lionsgate): $10.1 million in its second weekend, down 60%. Domestic total: $41.1 million.

4. "Water for Elephants" (20th Century Fox): $9.1 million in its second weekend, down 46%. Domestic total: $32.3 million. $4.7 million in 23 foreign markets. International total: $8.2 million.

5. "Prom" (Disney): Opened to $5 million.

6. "Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil" (Weinstein Co./Kanbar): Opened to $4.1 million.

7. "Soul Surfer" (Sony/FilmDistrict): $3.3 million in its fourth weekend, down 39%. Domestic total: $33.8 million.

8. "Insidious" (FilmDistrict): $2.7 million in its fifth weekend, down 48%. Domestic total: $48.3 million.

9. "Hop" (Universal/Relativity): $2.6 million in its fifth weekend, down 79%. Domestic total: $105.3 million. $5.7 million in 53 foreign markets. International total: $58.4 million.

10. "Source Code" (Summit/Vendome): $2.5 million in its fifth weekend, down 50%. Domestic total: $48.9 million.

Also READ:
‘Fast Five’ hits U.S. theaters midnight Thursday
Aussies, Brits hit theaters to see ‘Fast Five’ before its U.S. release

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