'Unforgettable' marks a career worst for Katherine Heigl in opening to $4.8M, while Christian Bale-starrer 'The Promise' debuts to a paltry $4.1 million after costing $100 million to make. 
 
 Universal's The Fate of the Furious left the competition in the dust at the North American box office, grossing $38.7 million in its second weekend for a 10-day domestic total of $163.6 million and $908.4 million globally. 
 
 The action movie fell 61 percent in North America, a fairly good hold for the front-loaded franchise. Fate of the Furious is also doing massive business overseas, where it earned another $163.4 million for a foreign total of $744.8 million — led by China with an astounding $318 million. 
 
 Back in the U.S., The Boss Baby placed No. 3 with $12.8 million for a domestic cume of $137 million and $358.1 million worldwide, followed by Beauty and the Beast with $10 million for a global total of $1.1 billion. 
 
 Among the fresh crop of offerings, it was nothing short of a car crash, save for Disney's nature documentary Born in China. The doc earned $5.1 million from 1,508 theaters to place No. 4 and come in ahead of the other new films. 
 
 Warner Bros.' female-centric thriller Unforgettable, starring Katherine Heigl, debuted to a mere $4.8 million from 2,417 locations, marking a career worst for Heigl for a nationwide opening. "It just didn't resonate with our intended audience," said Warner Bros. domestic distribution chief Jeff Goldstein. 
 
 Helmed by veteran producer Denise Di Novi in her feature directorial debut, Unforgettable, placing No. 7, stars Heigl as a jilted woman whose jealousy of her ex-husband's new wife turns pathological. Rosario Dawson and Geoff Stults also star. 
 
 If there's any solace, it is that the film only cost $12 million to make. 
 
 The same can't be said for Armenian genocide drama The Promise, directed by Terry George and starring Christian Bale alongside Oscar Isaac. The big-budget movie bowed to $4.1 million from 2,251 theaters after costing a hefty $100 million to produce. The pic was fully financed by the late Kirk Kerkorian, who was of Armenian descent. 
 
 Open Road is handling The Promise domestically. The filmmakers say the movie has succeeded in raising awareness about the Armenian genocide regardless of its box-office performance, and that a $20 million donation will help create The Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA School of Law. 
 
 The two other new films, action-comedy Free Fire and sci-fi thriller Phoenix Forgotten, had smaller footprints than their brethren but still disappointed. 
 
 Phoenix Forgotten, coming in at No. 11 with $2 million from 1,592 cinemas, tells the story of three teenagers who disappear after trying to solve the mystery behind the 1997 UFO phenomenon knows as the Phoenix Lights. Ridley Scott, Wes Ball, Courtney Solomon and Mark Canton produced the movie, with Cinelou distributing. 
 
 British helmer Ben Wheatley's Free Fire, a send-up of vintage action movies, grossed $1 million from 1,070 theaters for indie distributor A24. The pic, placing No. 18, stars Brie Larson, Sharlto Copley, Armie Hammer, Cillian Murphy and Jack Reynor. 
 
 Among other specialty fare, Fox Searchlight's Gifted crossed $10 million after earning another $4.5 million from 1,986 theaters. 
 
 James Grey's The Lost City of Z expanded into a total of 614 theaters in its second weekend, earning $2.1 million to place No. 10. ||||| The Disney live-action fairy tale — earning a record $63.8 million on Friday — is on its way to landing one of the top 10 openings of all time and the biggest ever for a PG title. 
 
 Director Bill Condon's Beauty and the Beast is doing monstrous business at the North American box office, waltzing to $63.8 million on Friday for a projected record-breaking weekend north of $170 million in another huge win for Disney's growing stable of live-action fairy tale movies. 
 
 The update of the classic 1991 animated musical is destined to set a number of records, including the biggest start ever for a PG title (Finding Dory is the current champ with $135 million). 
 
 Beauty looks to pass up the $166 million domestic debut of last year's Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice to land the top March opening of all time. The family friendly movie should boast one of the top 10 openings of all time, and the biggest outside of summer save for fellow 2015 December blockbuster, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, not accounting for inflation. 
 
 Friday's tally is the largest single day for a PG movie, beating the 2009 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ($58 million). Beauty, playing in 4,210 theaters, skewed heavily female on Friday (72 percent), according to one polling service. Audiences gave the film an A CinemaScore. 
 
 The $160 million tentpole, produced by Mandeville Films, should see a nice boost from a full run in Imax theaters, generally known as a haven for fanboys, and not families. 
 
 But with PG films booming, Imax is expanding its programming to include such are. Imax worked with Condon on making a special version of Beauty that allows more to be seen on the screen because of a different aspect ratio. 
 
 Beauty and the Beast stars Emma Watson as Belle and Dan Stevens as the Beast, and the cast also includes Luke Evans, Josh Gad, Ewan McGregor, Stanley Tucci, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ian McKellen and Emma Thompson. 
 
 The tale follows Belle, who attempts to rescue her father from the castle of a terrifying beast, and instead becomes his captor. But she soon starts to fall for the Beast and the enchanted staff of his castle, who were all put under a spell by a witch. 
 
 Beauty is also opening around the world and should earn at least $100 million overseas. It took in a strong $11.5 million on its opening day, debuting as the No. 1 film in all but one market (Slovakia, where it was the No. 1 non-local film). It is also doing well in Russia, despite a restrictive rating slapped on the film after Condon recently revealed that Gad's character, Gaston's sidekick, is gay. 
 
 Censors in Malaysia have gone one step further and asked Disney to cut what it deems a "gay moment," but the studio says it won't make any changes. 
 
 The only other film opening nationwide this weekend in North America is The Belko Experiment, which grossed $1.5 million Friday from 1,341 theaters for a projected $3.6 million weekend, just below an expected $4 million. 
 
 Written by James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy), The Belko Experiment is an Orion Pictures' low-budget horror thriller which Blumhouse's distribution arm, BT Tilt, is releasing. 
 
 The film, directed by Greg McLean, follows a group of 80 Americans who are locked in their high-rise office in Bogota, Colombia, and ordered by an unknown voice coming from the company’s intercom system to participate in a deadly game of kill or be killed in order to survive. 
 
 March 17, 12:20 p.m. Updated with revised weekend projections. 
 
 March 18, 7:35 a.m. Updated with Friday numbers and revised weekend projections.
– Katherine Heigl suffered the worst opening weekend of her career as audiences forgot in droves to go see Unforgettable, but still managed to come out ahead of Christian Bale's latest, the apparently controversial The Promise. Per the Hollywood Reporter, Fate of the Furious again came out on top, with another $38.6 million on the heap. The Boss Baby continued to coo with another $12.75 million and second place, while Beauty and the Beast took third and $9.98 million, reports Box Office Mojo. Born in China zipped to No. 4 with $5.1 million. But the real debut disasters were Unforgettable with $4.8 million and seventh place, and The Promise with $4.1 million and ninth. Adding particular insult to Bale's injury was the $100 million price tag of his film; Unforgettable, meanwhile, cost a much more attainable $12 million to make, notes the Reporter. These are the biggest box-office disasters of all time.)