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Fast 6 obliterates box-office record

Los Angeles - Fast & Furious 6 raced to the top of a record-breaking weekend at North American movie theatres, and the sixth instalment in the street-racing franchise delivered a turbo-charged performance overseas.

The film debuted atop the holiday weekend box office, collecting $117m domestically and $158m internationally - the biggest opening yet for a Universal Pictures release.

Ticket tallies over the four-day weekend also set a Memorial Day record with $314.2m.

"This just obliterated the 2011 record, which was $276.75m," said box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian of Hollywood.com.

More than a third of the take belonged to Fast & Furious 6 which stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez and Dwayne Johnson, along with an international supporting cast. The film follows the muscle-car crew as they join with police in a worldwide hunt for a terrorist, battling a plane and a tank along the way.

The film's international cast and settings contributed to its appeal.

"It's no coincidence that the movie takes place overseas," said Dave Karger, chief correspondent for movie site Fandango.com. "That was, I'm sure, a very calculated decision."

Though a proven box-office winner, with its six films cumulatively collecting $1.9 billion so far, the Fast & Furious series hasn't quite reached the level of other powerhouse action franchises such as Harry Potter, Transformers and Iron Man.

The five Potter films have earned $7.7 billion worldwide.

The three Transformers films have a worldwide gross of $2.67 billion. The third Iron Man film was released last month, and the franchise has claimed $2.36 billion worldwide so far.


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