"Fast & Furious 6" races past "The Hangover Part III" at weekend box office
It's a box office blowout -- "Fast & Furious 6" is revving past "The Hangover Part III" in the No. 1 position at the Memorial Day holiday weekend box office.
The sixth installment in Universal Pictures' muscle car franchise, featuring Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, debuted with $98.5 million domestically from Friday to Sunday, according to studio estimates Sunday.
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Meanwhile, the final film in the raunchy Warner Bros. comedy trilogy starring Zach Galifianakis, Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms opened with $42.1 million in the No. 2 spot.
Universal estimates that by the end of the four-day holiday weekend Monday, "Fast & Furious 6" will have pulled in $122.2 million domestically and $275.5 million worldwide. That would give it the second-biggest opening of the year behind "Iron Man 3."
Paramount Pictures' science-fiction sequel"Star Trek: Into Darkness" earned $38 million at No. 3 in its second weekend at the box office, while the Fox animated film"Epic," with a voice cast including Amanda Seyfried, Colin Farrell, Jason Sudeikis and Beyonce, opened at No. 4 with $34.2 million.
Overall domestic receipts for the four-day Memorial Day weekend are expected to come in ahead of 2011's record-breaking $276 million.
Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst for box-office tracker Hollywood.com, estimated that four-day revenues this time will total $323 million, about 15 percent above Memorial Day weekend in 2011, when "The Hangover Part II" delivered a $103.4 million debut.