After driving off with $33.2 million on Friday, a record debut for April, Universal’s Fast Five went on to an incredible weekend estimate of $83.6 million from 3,644 locations.  And, as on Friday, that was also good enough to break all kinds of records.

Now we’re talking.  Though April showed signs of life with Hop and Rio, it looks like 2011 has its first real blockbuster on its hands with Fast Five.  And not a moment too soon!  If I had to write one more box office report which parsed out the relative merits of a $15 million opening weekend I was going to have to slap myself.  After earning a reported $3.8 million in its midnight debut, Fast Five went on to take in a Friday total estimated at $33.2 million.  Most projections now have the action sequel earning over $70 million for the weekend.  Not only would that make Fast Five, easily, the highest debut of 2011, it would also pace the $71 million debut of the franchise’s last installment, Fast and Furious, which has held the record for the highest April debut of all-time since 2009.  So for once the trailers were right: summer really did start early this year!  For the rest of the top ten, it appears to be perpetual January, with both Disney’s Prom and TWC’s Hoodwinked Too! underwhelming in their debuts.  Full details tomorrow.

Screenwriter Katie Wech is a USC film graduate making her feature film debut with the teen ensemble film Prom. She was a writer under contract with Disney when she heard that the studio was looking for a prom movie with a really authentic feel, and decided to take matters into her own hands, weaving her own prom experience in with those of various people that she talked to, when composing the 14 characters that make up the story. In what sounds like a Hollywood dream story, the script was sold, the film was greenlit, the screenwriter got to collaborate with the director and spend time on the set seeing her vision brought to life, and she’s ecstatic with the final outcome.

During a recent exclusive phone interview with Collider, Katie Wech talked about how her passion for this project growing out of the love story between Nova and Jesse, her process for determining how many characters the film would follow, how everyone remembers their prom experience, the importance of making sure not everyone in the story got a happy ending, her reaction to finding out this script was on the Black List for 2010, and how she wants to tell stories with really authentic characters. Check out what she had to say after the jump:

Prom is scheduled for a release on April 29 — speaking as a fan of teen melodrama with a sense of humor, I am optimistic.  I am encouraged by Disney’s confidence in the property.  THR reports the studio has commissioned a script from Prom screenwriter Katie Wech for another teen movie.  Technically, plot details are under wraps, but the implication is this teen movie could function as a sequel to Prom.  The idea is to get the ball rolling so that, in the event Prom connects with audiences, Disney will have a sequel ready to go at the same time next year.  THR suggests the film could follow the underclassmen from the first movie as they become seniors — I hope Disney hops between states each year, checking in on the proms of teenagers all across America.  (Prom: Alaska!)

Aimee Teegarden, Thomas McDonell, Danielle Campbell, Yin Chang, Kylie Bunbury, Nicholas Braun, Jared Kusnitz, Jonathan Keltz, De’Vaughn Nixon, Nolan Sotillo, Cameron Monaghan­, Joe Adler, Janelle Ortiz, and Raini Rodriguez star.  Read the official synopsis for Prom after the break.

Disney has released the first trailer and images from its upcoming teen comedy/drama Prom. Starring Aimee Teegarden from the fantastic Friday Night Lights (seriously, if you haven’t watched this show, get on it) and relative newcomer Thomas McDonell, the film centers on a group of teenagers getting ready for their senior prom. Joe Nussbaum (Sydney White) directs from a script by Katie Welch (Stephen King’s The Dead Zone).  The flick looks to have a small documentary-style element and focuses on high school seniors pontificating on the seminal importance of, you guessed it, prom.  Hit the jump to check out the trailer and images, as well as an official synopsis of the film. Prom will hit theaters on April 29^th, 2011.

When we last reported on Pixar’s Newt, it was the sad news that the project had been canceled.  Now it looks like the project has officially shed the mortal coil as Box Office Mojo reports that Disney has dropped it from the calendar entirely.  Other release date changes include Monsters, Inc. 2 moving from November 16, 2012 to November 2, 2012; the teen comedy Prom is now set for April 29, 2011; and DreamWorks’ The Guardians (tentative title) is moving from November 21, 2012 to November 2, 2012.

The most frustrating change is Beauty and the Beast 3D being pushed from 2011 to completely off the schedule.  The film was originally set to come out this past Valentine’s Day.  Heat Vision reports that the release has been moved to 2012 (or later) so that there will be more 3D TVs in homes when the movie finally hits theaters.  That way, when people see how (presumably) amazing the movie looks in 3D, they’ll buy the 3D Blu-ray when it’s released.  Thankfully, fans will get to see a (presumably) gorgeous HD transfer of the movie when the film hits Blu-ray this October.

The ensemble high school comedy Prom has been on Disney’s development slate for a few months now; the studio has now assembled a cast of relative unknowns to star.  The only name I (rather adoringly) recognize is Aimee Teegarden (Friday Night Lights), who will star alongside Thomas McDonell, Danielle Campbell, Nolan Sotillo, Yin Chang, Jared Kusnitz, Nicholas Braun, Ben Esler, Kylie Bunbury, and DeVaughn Nixon.  May you find your own Teegarden on the playbill, and may you hit the jump to discuss the project further.

With the success of High School Musical, it’s no surprise Disney is developing new projects starring teenagers.  The latest one is called Prom, and as you might have guessed, it’s a comedy about a group of teenagers getting ready for the big dance.  The project is going to be written by Katie Wech (The Dead Zone) and Joe Nussbaum (Sydney White, Sleepover) will direct.  According to Variety, Disney is looking at a number of ways to put the project together, including casting unknowns as the leads to keep costs down.  They are looking at the teen comedies of John Hughes and Cameron Crowe for tone.

While dropping those names is always the right thing to do in a press release, they were both geniuses at crafting honest and accurate portrayals of teenage life.  Many have tried and failed to imitate their High School movies. So good luck to Joe Nussbaum on this one.