April, even more than February or March, is notorious for being a slow month at the box office. Leave it to a movie titled Fast and Furious to turn that around in a major way.

The critically panned sequel proved to be a favorite with audiences, banking a record breaking $72 million. Not only is that the top opening of the year to date and the biggest April opening by almost double (Anger Management drew $42 million in April, 2003), it's the largest opening ever for February to April second only to The Passion of the Christ. It's also the top amount for any film starring Vin Diesel.

It's a huge boost for the franchise, which has seen sales drop with each subsequent release. This fourth entry enjoyed the largest opening and also topped total US sales for The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift which only made $62 million in its entire three months on the screen.

Slapstick raunch-com Adventureland landed in sixth place with $6 million. That's par for the course for any such comedy featuring Ryan Reynolds. Van Wilder, The In-Laws, Waiting... - he has yet to star in one that opened in the double digits.

1. Fast and Furious * $72,508,000   -   Total: $72,508,000 LW: N     WR: 1     THTRS: 3,461

2. Monsters Vs. Aliens $33,510,000   -   Total: $105,700,000 LW: 1     WR: 2     THTRS: 4,109

3. The Haunting in Connecticut $9,550,000   -   Total: $37,240,000 LW: 2     WR: 2     THTRS: 2,732

4. Knowing $8,130,000   -   Total: $58,204,000 LW: 3     WR: 3     THTRS: 3,323

5. I Love You, Man $7,850,000   -   Total: $49,287,000 LW: 4     WR: 3     THTRS: 2,829

6. Adventureland * $6,010,000   -   Total: $6,010,000 LW: N     WR: 1     THTRS: 1,862

7. Duplicity $4,300,000   -   Total: $32,376,000 LW: 5     WR: 3     THTRS: 2,522

8. Race to Witch Mountain $3,351,000   -   Total: $58,388,000 LW: 6     WR: 4     THTRS: 2,825

9. 12 Rounds $2,300,000   -   Total: $9,022,000 LW: 7     WR: 2     THTRS: 2,331

10. Sunshine Cleaning $1,879,000   -   Total: $4,775,000 LW: 11     WR: 4     THTRS: 479