UniversalUPDATE: Fast & Furious 6 went on to end the holiday weekend with a whopping $120 million, and The Hangover Part III finished it up with $51.2 million—both very close to their predicted totals.
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Fast & Furious 6 definitely won the box office race.
In spite of having a dueling opening weekend with The Hangover 3, the action flick dominated this weekend's box office, nabbing the top spot at $98.5 million.
The Fast & Furious sequel is expected to rake in more big bucks before the Memorial Day holiday weekend comes to an end—bringing its domestic total to an estimated $122 million.
Those big numbers will give Fast & Furious 6 the fourth-highest Memorial Day opening ever, according to Forbes.
The latest installment in the Hangover franchise wasn't so lucky, falling below expectations of analysts, who predicted the film would pull in at least $70 million this weekend.
It nabbed $42.4 million instead, and is expected to end the weekend with $53-million plus.
"It was a little surprising that we didn't reach the $80 million mark, but I can't look at a $63 million or $64 million opening and say it wasn't solid," Warner Bros. president of distribution Dan Fellman told The Hollywood Reporter. "Obviously, the first choice was Fast 6, but hopefully people will get a dose of that film and then come back to us."
Meanwhile, Star Trek Into Darkness fell to the third spot with $38 million; animated flick Epic debuted in fourth at $34.2 million, and Iron Man 3 landed the fifth spot with $19.4 million.
Here's a complete look at the weekend's top movies, per Friday-Sunday studio estimates and stats as compiled per Box Office Mojo:
1. Fast & Furious 6, $98.5 million
2. The Hangover Part III, $42.4 million
3. Star Trek Into Darkness, $38 million
4. Epic, $34.2 million
5. Iron Man 3, $19.4 million
6. The Great Gatsby, $13.7 million
7. Mud, $2 million
8. 42, $1.2 million
9. The Croods, $1.2 million
10. Oblivion, $815,000
(Originally published on 5/26/13 at 10:57 a.m.)