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APEX Hollywood Shortlist: Furious 7 Makes History (again!) in Big Week for Period Films

April 28, 2015  | Written by Tomas Romero

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Furious 7 raced into the record books over the weekend by becoming only the third film in history to hit the $1Billion mark overseas – behind James Cameron’s megahits Avatar and Titanic. The film maintained its perch at the top of the B.O. with a solid $17.8M, but for fans of period epics, it was Christmas in April. And whether you prefer your period pics lush and romantic, epic and sweeping or just good old heartfelt and uplifting, there was definitely a period picture for everyone on Santa’s list this past weekend.

Opening in third place with $13.2M behind Sony’s bulletproof Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2, which kept on Segway-ing to the tune of $14.7M, was Lionsgate’s time-bending sudser The Age of Adaline. Starring Gossip Girls’ Blake Lively, Adaline chronicles the lives and loves of a beautiful young woman who finds that she can never age after a freak car accident in 1935. Determined not to hurt her daughter (played by Oscar-winner Ellen Burstyn in later scenes) or those she loves, Lively’s character continues to run from love and happiness until a chance encounter with an old flame, Harrison Ford, changes everything. Lively has been pushing the film hard on the talk show circuit and is already generating as much buzz for her performance as she is for the gorgeous vintage costumes and contemporary Gucci duds she sports in the film, so, expect Adaline to perform well in theaters (and on Pinterest!) for a while yet.

Opening just outside the top ten with $2.7M was Open Road Films’ faith-based WWII comedy-drama, Little Boy, from Bella director Alejandro Monteverde. Centered around a young boy learning to use his faith to move mountains (literally!) to bring his father home from WWII, Boy stars Kevin James, Michael Rappaport, Jacob Salvati and Oscar-nominees Emily Watson and Tom Wilkinson. Executive produced by The Bible producer/star Roma Downey, Boy should connect with families and faith-based audiences even more as it expands over the next few weeks.

Also opening in limited release was Russell Crowe’s period epic The Water Diviner (Warner Bros.), which took in $1.2M on 320 screens. Based on the book of the same name, Diviner also happens to be Crowe’s directorial debut. In the film, Crowe, the once and future “King of the Period Epic,” plays an Australian father who travels to Turkey in search of his missing sons after the 1915 Battle of Gallipoli. Already shaping up to be a minor art house hit on the global front – the film opened big in Crowe’s native New Zealand and Australia this past December – Diviner has already “divined” $11.3M internationally and shows no signs of letting up.

Complete Box Office Results – April 24 – 26, 2015