Furious speeds to US number one

Vin Diesel reprises his role as ex-con Dom Toretto in the film

Vin Diesel film Fast & Furious has raced to the top of the North American box office chart, early figures show.

The fourth film in the street car racing franchise, which sees the stars of the 2001 original reunited, earned $72.5m (£48.6m) over the weekend.

It smashed the week-old record for the best opening this year of $58.2m (£41m) set by animated film Monsters vs Aliens, which slipped to number two.

Horror film The Haunting in Connecticut also fell one place to number three.

Internationally, Fast & Furious earned an additional $30.1m (£20.2m) across 31 countries, opening at number one in most of them, taking its total tickets sales to $102.6m (£71.1m). Universal Pictures said the film cost about $85m (£56.9m) to make.

US BOX OFFICE TOP 10

1 Fast & Furious - $72.5m

2 Monsters vs. Aliens - $33.5m

3 The Haunting in Connecticut - $9.6m

4 Knowing - $8.1m

5 I Love You, Man - $7.9m

6 Adventureland - $6m

7 Duplicity - $4.3m

8 Race to Witch Mountain - $3.4m

9 12 Rounds - $2.3m

10 Sunshine Cleaning - $1.9m

Source: Media By Numbers

In the film, Diesel and Paul Walker resurrect their roles as old foes who team up to confront a common enemy. Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster, two other veterans from the first film, also appear.

The franchise had been on the wane but a last minute cameo from Vin Diesel in the third film, Tokyo Drift, set the tone for full reunion of the original cast.

Elsewhere in the top 10 there was only one new entry with teen comedy Adventureland at number six.