Rodriguez & Brewster’s “Furious 7” Becomes Universal Pictures’ First-Ever Billion-Dollar Film

Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster have a billion reason to celebrate…

The 36-year-old Puerto Rican and Dominican-American actress and 34-year-old Brazilian-Panamanian actress’ latest film, Furious 7, has become Universal Pictures’ first-ever billion-dollar movie, and the entertainment company’s leader talked online about the notable moment for the 103-year-old studio.

Furious 7

“Today marks a significant milestone in our history,” NBCUniversal Vice Chairman Ron Meyer wrote in a blog post as the setua-sequel raced past that global-boxoffice milestone in just its 17th day in release.

The actioner, also starring Vin Diesel and the late Paul Walker, has banked an estimated $265.3M domestically and is expected to win again this weekend both at hone and overseas, making it three consecutive winning frames.

Early Friday matinee estimates show that Furious 7 is on track to make $8M-$8.5M for a three-day estimate of between $25 million and $26 million. It still is commanding the Imax screens in its third weekend. The film took in about $2.9M Thursday on 4,022 total runs. The actioner, which stopped production after Walker died in a November 2013 car crash, initially was supposed to bow last summer, but that date had to be overhauled. With the extra time, Universal was able to pick the perfect distribution date and implement a strong marketing campaign with two of the most social powerhouses on the Internet: Diesel and Dwayne Johnson.

Picking the April 3, 2015, distribution date meant the film was able to enjoy four weeks of play both on Imax and in the nation’s theaters until May 1, when Marvel/Disney releases mega-sequel Avengers: Age Of Ultron.

Furious 7 is the first film since last year’s Transformers: Age of Extinction to top $1 billion worldwide and already is No. 20 on the all-time list.

Celaya to Star in ABC Family’s Tennis-Themed Drama Pilot “Unstrung”

Chanel Celaya is getting unstrung

The part-Mexican actress has been cast in ABC Family’s tennis-themed drama pilot Unstrung, which will be directed by Jay Karas.

Chanel Celaya

English actor Alex Roe’s first stateside role will be as a once-in-a-generation phenom in Unstrung, which is set on the pro tennis tour where brother and sister Luke (Roe) and Ellie Holt (Celaya) compete to move up the ranks. The Holts seem to have it all, but when Luke discovers that his well-meaning but controlling father andcoach has kept a potentially life-altering secret from him, Luke’s world is upended.

Celaya, a Hollywood newcomer, starred in 21 Jump Street, as well as on television in The Inbetweeners. She recently wrapped a role as Cate on Transformers: Age of Extinction, which is in post-production.