Box Office: Record-Breaking Memorial Weekend

Funny thing about the American people — give them what they want and they show up in droves. And what they want is to lay down their money, sit in the dark, and forget about the real world for a couple of hours.

Don’t preach to me. Don’t insult who I am. Don’t blame me for Global Warming or Islamic terrorism.

Just, please, take me away.

With five titles promising just that, Hollywood is cleaning up this Memorial Day weekend, with a record haul that could reach $300 million.

Summer 2013 keeps sizzling as huge grosses for the Top 6 movies add up to the biggest Memorial Day weekend and the biggest 4-day holiday weekend ever. (Numbers below.) That’s potentially $300+ million, easily beating 2011′s all-time Memorial Weekend record of $276M. Yowza! The easy #1 is Universal’s Fast & Furious 6[.]

1. Fast & Furious 6 – 4-Day Holiday $110.0M, Cume $114.8M

2. The Hangover III – 4-Day Holiday $52.0M, Cume $63.5M

3. Star Trek Into Darkness – 4-Day Holiday $47.0M, Cume $155.9M

4. Epic – 4-Day Holiday $44.2M

5. Iron Man 3 – 4-Day Holiday $25.0M, Cume $373.0M

I’ve edited down DHD’s tallies for each title. The full report is here.

Not just because I love the films (with the original cast), I am thrilled to see the twelve-year-old “Fast and Furious” franchise only grow more popular with each release. Vin Diesel’s fourth outing as Dominic Toretto might have an A-picture budget, but it has a B-movie heart. Nothing is better than masculine heroes wreaking havoc in simple plots strung together with great scenes.

The other reason I love the franchise is because, like Toretto, I too live my life a quarter-mile at a time. I tried a half-mile, but the commitment was too much.

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC

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