Box Office: ‘F9’ Shatters Pandemic Records with $70 Million Debut

The latest entry in Universal’s “Fast & Furious” saga “F9” has gone beyond everyone’s expectations and shattered pandemic records.

The box office debut of “F9,” has opened to a huge $70 million from 4,179 North American venues and by far has the biggest start for a movie in the U.S since the onset of COVID-19.
After many delays over the course of a year and a half, “F9” wasn’t expected to reach the opening weekend heights of its franchise predecessors as attendance in cinemas haven’t returned to pre-COVID levels and the Canadian box office, which accounts for part of North American revenues, is still almost entirely shut down.

Compared to the other “Fast” series launches, “F9” has a slight edge on the 2019 spinoff “Hobbs & Shaw,” which generated $60 million and ended its theatrical run with $173 million in the U.S. and $759 million globally. 2017’s “The Fate of the Furious,” which opened to $98 million was the previous film in the core series and it ultimately grossed $226 million in North America and $1.2 billion worldwide. The 2015 entry “Furious 7” marked a franchise high, posting a huge $147.2 million in its first three days of release, on its way to $353 million at the domestic box office and $1.5 billion globally.

The big-screen homage to hulking men, speedy cars and gravity-defying stunts is giving some much-needed momentum to the movie theater business, which has been struggling to rebound as audiences begin to feel comfortable returning to their local multiplex. “F9” is the latest blockbuster-hopeful to set a new box office benchmark for COVID times. Prior to this weekend, Paramount’s “A Quiet Place Part II” held the pandemic-era opening weekend with $48.3 million in inaugural ticket sales.

David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research, says “the inaugural weekend of “F9” is “an excellent opening in an extraordinary series.”

Overseas, “F9” has been a force with international audiences as ticket sales surpass the $300 million mark. The movie added another $38 million from 45 foreign markets, boosting its tally to $335 million internationally and $405 million globally. Although COVID-era restrictions and consumer hesitations mean “F9’s” overall box office totals will likely fall short of past “Fast” installments, the action adventure didn’t cost any less to produce — or market and promote on a global scale.

SOURCE: REUTERS