Fast & Furious 7, the latest movie of the famous franchise starring Vin Diesel and late Paul Walker, drew almost 200,000 viewers in Romanian cinemas in the opening weekend, setting a new local box-office record.

Fast & Furious 7 had nearly 50,000 more spectators in the first week than the last movie of The Hobbit trilogy, which hit the screens in December 2014. It also set a new record in terms of revenues, with RON 3.65 million (almost USD 900,000) compared to RON 3.15 million (USD 770,000) for The Hobbit.

Furious 7 is by far the biggest hit of the franchise so far, as it had revenues of USD 143.6 million in the US, in the opening weekend, entering the top 10 best movie openings. Worldwide, the movie had USD 392 million in revenues in the first weekend, and it hasn’t launched yet in China, Japan, and Russia.

Paul Walker’s tragic death in late 2013, in a high-speed accident, probably contributed to the movie’s box-office success, as fans were eager to see his last performance.

The cast, which is packed with action heroes, such as Vin Diesel, who plays the central character Dominic Toretto, Dwayne Johnson, and Jason Statham, as the bad guy, also promised to take the action to a higher level in Furious 7.

The movie is currently running in cinemas all over Romania and based on the numbers so far it could set some more records.

editor@romania-insider.com