“Fast & Furious 6” held onto its lead at the box office for the second week in a row, beating out contenders such as the new Will Smith flick “After Earth” and “Hangover III.”

The sixth installment of the popular series starring Vin Diesel and Paul Walker opened up with a nice $120 million in sales over Memorial Day weekend and should add another $34.5 million in ticket sales for this past weekend.

Sometimes sequels don’t perform as well as desired at the box office, but this hasn’t been the case so far with “Fast 6.”  With the numbers this movie franchise is putting up, it’s clear that this series is stilling captivating the interest of its audience 12 years after the first film came out.  “It certainly has been magic for us to watch the numbers this weekend,” said Richie Fay, Lionsgate’s domestic distribution president.

Even though “Fast & Furious 6” is a box office topper in in North America, it slipped to second place in worldwide sales over the weekend, falling behind “The Hangover Part III,” a sequel that didn’t perform as well as desired in the U.S.  In addition to the negative reviews for the third and final installment of the series, it only came in fifth place with $15.9 million in domestic sales. While “Fast 6” might not be appreciated quite as much outside the U.S. and Canada, the movie finished $6 million ahead of the second-place film, “Now You See Me” here.

In this film international car thief gang leader Dominic Toretto finds himself being targeted by U.S. Diplomatic Security Service.  While Dom and his group are wanted, they are given a chance to have their slates wiped clean if they will agree to help take down a mercenary organization.  Dom finds himself in a bit of a conundrum when he discovers that his presumed-dead lover Letty Ortiz (played by Michelle Rodriguez) is one of the leaders of the mercenary organization.  He has to decide between no longer being a wanted man and gaining amnesty for his crew or turning in his former girlfriend.

So far “Fast 6” has been well-received and has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 72 percent.  CNN.com’s critic Tom Charity had the following to say of the sequel: “Ludicrous, but undeniably fun and surprisingly affectionate, this is really all you could ask of a car crash movie, and more.”

While “Fast 6” continues to enjoy its success, plans are underway for a seventh “Fast & The Furious” film.  Filming on “Fast 7” begins in August and is expected to be released next summer.