'Fast & Furious' Races To #1 With Record-Breaking Box Office

Vin Diesel and Paul Walker's sequel is the biggest April debut ever.

Apr 6, 2009.

By Elisabeth Rappe

#1 "Fast & Furious" ($72.5 million)
#2 "Monsters vs. Aliens" ($33.5 million)
#3 "The Haunting in Connecticut" ($9.55 million)
#4 "Knowing" ($8.13 million)
#5 "I Love You, Man" ($7.85 million)

With Vin Diesel and behind the wheel, "Fast & Furious" raced to the top of the box office this weekend with a record-breaking debut of $72.5 million. That kind of money has made "Furious" not only the biggest opener of the series and a personal best for Diesel and Walker, but also the biggest April debut ever. With that kind of splashy money, Universal is probably pretty thrilled it put the pedal to the metal and released the film on April 3 instead of holding it until June, as it had previously planned. 

But it seems there can only be one stunning debut in any given weekend. Despite good reviews and the presence of Ryan Reynolds and "Twilight" star Kristen Stewart, the debut of "Adventureland" failed to crack the top five. It landed weakly at #6 with $6.01 million. 

While it dropped to #2, "Monsters vs. Aliens" wasn't entirely outdone and still brought in a tidy $33.5 million, bringing its total to $106 million. DreamWorks' 3-D adventure eclipsed "Watchmen" after just 10 days in theaters. 

"The Haunting in Connecticut" held onto #3, but its second weekend saw a steep drop of 59 percent. It took in only $9.55 million, with a total of $37.2 million, a weak showing for a horror film. 

"Knowing" also dropped a spot, bringing in $8.13 million to land at #4. The Nicolas Cage thriller has brought in $58.2 million so far, and though it's beginning to fade, it's been a solid release for Summit. 

"I Love You, Man" kept to the weekend's trend of one-spot drops but brought in only $7.85 million. With a take of $49.3 million so far, it's held better than Paul Rudd's and Jason Segel's previous solo comedies ("Role Models" and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall," respectively), and has been one of the strongest holdovers of a slow March.

Source: www.mtv.com