NEW YORK, USA (AP) — The high-octane thriller Furious 7 maintained speed in its second week, racing away with US$60.6 million at North American theaters and bringing its box-office total to a robust US$252.5 million, according to studio estimates yesterday.

Universal’s Furious 7 more than lapped the competition. The only new wide release of the weekend, the rodeo romance “The Longest Ride,” opened with US$13.5 million.

That was good enough for third place for the Fox release, which stars Clint Eastwood’s son, Scott Eastwood. In second was the DreamWorks animated alien adventure Home, which pulled in US$19 million in its third week of release.

But Furious 7 continued to dominate the marketplace, dropping only 59 per cent from its remarkable US$147.2 million debut last weekend. Globally, it has already crossed US$800 million in its first two weeks of release, according to Universal.

The weekend international total — an eye-popping US$195 million — was boosted by the film premiering in China on Sunday, where it earned an estimated US$68.6 million in just one day.

Over 10 days, Furious 7, which prominently features a tribute to the late actor Paul Walker, has already out-grossed all previous installments of the 14-year-old franchise.