Expectations for “Fast and Furious 6” were lofty going into the Memorial Day Weekend box office race, but the well-reviewed action film still found a way to top them.
Based on weekend estimates, “Fast 6” will earn $98.5 million over the three days ending Sunday and is thus in position to garner as much as $120 million by the end of the four-day holiday weekend. Initial forecasts, which were friendly to the film, eyed only $100 million through Monday.
Not all films can top estimates, however. Poorly-reviewed “The Hangover Part III,” which made lofty estimates look silly after debuting to less than $12 million in its first outing Thursday, will earn only $42.4 million by Sunday night for a $54.2 million cume. Its five-day holiday total will fall short of $70 million, a disastrous finish for what should and could have been a box office smash.
And “The Hangover Part III” was not alone in disappointing. New release “Epic” flopped as far as opening weekends go, earning just $34.2 million as the sole new family offering this weekend. Its four-day holiday total will not hit $50 million, as was first conservatively predicted.
In fact, as of right now, “Epic” is actually fourth, behind “Star Trek Into Darkness,” which earned $38 million over the three-day weekend and should add another $10 million or so Monday.
