Universal Pictures Has A ‘Fast And Furious’ Year At The Box Office

Universal Pictures made a truckload of money this year at the box office.

With a little help from director Justin Lin’s smash hit Fast and Furious 6, the studio ended up breaking records around the world. Not only did Universal destroy its previous domestic record, it also earned an astronomical amount of scratch from international moviegoers.

According to Worst Previews, Universal Pictures earned a whopping $1.352 billion in the US alone. This surpassed the $1.335 billion the studio made back in 2012. While this is certainly impressive, international business was clearly booming as well.

The studio reports that it made an impressive $1.794 billion from overseas audiences. When combined with that domestic total, Universal Pictures brought home an extremely healthy $3.49 billion. This beats the $3.129 billion Universal Pictures made in 2012.

411mania explains that the studio had no less than eight number one movies at the box office this year. Included among the hits were the horror flick Mama ($71.6 million), Identity Thief ($134.5 million), Oblivion ($89.1 million), the low-budget thriller The Purge ($64.5 million), 2 Guns ($75.6 million), and Vin Diesel’s Riddick ($42 million).

However, it was director Justin Lin’s worldwide box office smash Fast and Furious 6 and the animated family-friend sequel Despicable Me 2 that helped put the boys and girls at Universal Pictures in a very good position this year. In fact, the studio has new installments of both series headed to theaters very soon.

Although the latest entry in the Fast and the Furious franchise made $228 million in the US, foreign moviegoers shelled out $550 million for tickets to see the sequel. Altogether, this puts the film’s worldwide total at $778 million. No wonder Universal Pictures is getting the follow-up on its feet as soon as possible. Look for the sequel to hit next summer.

According to Box Office Mojo, Despicable Me 2 also generated a healthy amount of cash for the studio during its theatrical run. When you add its domestic ($365 million) and foreign ($550 million) together, the film earned approximately $916 million globally. The spin-off Minions hits theaters during the very crowd 2015 summer movie season.

Of course, Universal Pictures isn’t the only major Hollywood studio having a banner year at the box office. Despite some trouble from director Gore Verbinski’s The Lone Ranger, the folks at Disney also broke their own record with a little help from Marvel and Pixar.

The Inquisitr previously reported that the studio is on-track to make $3.791 billion from moviegoers around the world. Considering Thor: The Dark World was an international hit, chances are Disney won’t have any trouble hitting that mark by the end of the year.

Are you surprised that Universal Pictures broke its own records at the box office this year?

[Image via Universal Pictures]