Fury, starring Brad Pitt, took control of the box office this weekend with $23.5 million from 3,173 theaters, winning the North American box office battle against Gone Girl, The Book of Life, and Best of Me.
David Ayer directed the World War II movie and delivered one of the best opening of all time for this genre, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Brad Pitt stars in the movie along side other A-listers such as Shia LeBeouf, Logan Lerman, Micahel Pena, Jon Bernthal, Jason Issacs and Scott Eastwood. The film follows a five-man crew of a Sherman tank, with Pitt playing the Army sergeant in command, as they attempt to strike at the heart of Nazi Germany.
“It’s a snapshot of a family,” Ayer said in an interview with The Film Stage. “A lot of these war movies are about the big battle, will they save the world? This is a portrait of a family that happens to live in a tank and kills people. It’s an anonymous corner of the war. It’s a day in the life. It’s these brothers trying to survive and stay together, who love each other and hate each other, the best friends and the worst enemies of each other. I wanted to show that reality.”
The WWII film beat out Gone Girl for the top spot for the weekend. Gone Girl surpassed Book of Life to take the No.2 spot in the box office, with a total of $107.1 million from 3,241 theaters. Book of Life came in third for the weekend with $17 million from 3,071 theaters.
Sony, QED International and LStar Capital spent $68 million to make Fury, which ranks No. 4, among openings of all time for WWII movie, not accounting for inflation. This rank is behind Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds ($38.1 million) where Pitt starred as a leader feared by the Nazi’s for his brutal tactics. Pearl Harbor ($59.1 million) and Saving Private Ryan ($30.6 million) are the other films ahead of Fury in the ranks.
“I wanted to make people think. I wanted to make people appreciate what a soldier goes through. At the end of the day, I made this movie for soldiers and people in the military and people who serve,” Ayer said. “You’re going to go see the movie and you’re going to feel something and you’re going to want to talk about it, which in this world is different. It’s not disposable.”
