Box-office report: 'Furious 7' holds off 'Paul Blart'

In its third weekend, Furious 7 may not be revving its box-office engines at top speed any more, but its $29.1 million take was still enough to claim another No. 1 spot. Last weekend, Furious 7 made $59.8 million, and Home—the No. 2 movie—made $41.1 million less; but Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 closed the gap this weekend, finishing with $24 million for a close second.

Furious 7’s grosses slipped 51 percent, but it was still a great week for Universal’s blockbuster: It passed the $1 billion mark in global sales Friday—and in record time, no less. Domestically, Furious 7 should be surpassing the $300 million mark by week’s end (if not sooner). And it still has another couple weeks until Avengers: Age of Ultron opens on May 1, which will without a doubt replace Furious 7 at the top of the box-office rankings.

Paul Blart’s $24 million debut is impressive in its own way—especially given its all-around negative reviews. (The sequel currently has a 0 percent on Rotten Tomatoes). This debut number is only about $7 million less than its predecessor’s $31.8 million debut in 2009, proving that Kevin James has the power to bring in audiences no matter what the critics are saying.

Unfriended, a horror from producer Jason Blum, also opened this weekend and ended up scoring with $16 million. The movie fared considerably better than Paul Blart reviews-wise—its Rotten Tomatoes score is a relatively healthy 65 percent—and will likely be relying on word-of-mouth (and its disturbing marketing campaign) to keep its numbers up.

Home and The Longest Ride rounded out the top five with $10.3 million and $6.9 million, respectively.

1. Furious 7 — $29.1 million

2. Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 — $24 million

3. Unfriended — $16 million

4. Home — $10.3 million

5. The Longest Ride — $6.9 million

Outside the top five, Ex Machina, the artificial-intelligence thriller starring Oscar Isaac and Domhnall Gleeson, averaged an impressive $20,872 per screen in its second week of limited release. Disney’s Monkey Kingdom opened with $4.7 million—the same amount Bears, another Disney nature documentary, debuted with exactly a year ago. Bears went on to gross $17.8 millin during its run in theaters.