April 21--REPORTING FROM BEIJING -- With $250 million in its trunk after just eight days in Chinese theaters, "Furious 7" is likely to surpass "Transformers: Age of Extinction" this week as the mainland's top grossing film ever, analysts said Tuesday.
The seventh installment in Universal Pictures' "Fast Furious" franchise has roared out of the gates since its release in China on April 12 and could top $400 million in the country, analysts from film industry consulting firm Artisan Gateway estimated. The fourth "Transformers" earned nearly $306 million in China last summer.
Worldwide, "Furious 7" has now hauled in more than $1.1 billion and has become the fastest film to reach the $1-billion mark. It has made about $300 million in the U.S. and Canada, where it opened more than a week ahead of China.
"Furious" has steamrolled the competition at the Chinese box office. It accounted for nearly 86% of ticket sales in the seven days ending Sunday, data from Artisan showed.
Year to date, China's box-office grosses have now surpassed $2 billion.
In a distant second place for the week was the Chinese romance "Ever Since We Love," starring Fan Bingbing, which opened with $11.6 million.
The Chinese special-forces action film "Wolf Warriors," meanwhile, lost serious momentum, earning $8.7 million in its second full week in theaters after a fast start. The movie, directed by Wu Jing, has taken in $79.6 million since its April 2 release.
Rounding out the top five for the week were the Johnny Depp-starrer "Mortdecai," which earned just $2.1 million, and the Chinese-language romance "The Queens," which sold $1.9 million in tickets.
