After facing several delays in the past year or so, “F9” debuted with a massive $70 million from 4,179 North American cinemas. Until now this is the biggest launch for a film at the U.S. box office since the beginning of the pandemic.
The big-screen honor to bulky males, swift cars and gravity-defying acts is giving some much-needed energy to the movie theater industry, which has been facing difficulty to recoil as viewers started to feel at ease returning to their confined multiplex. “F9” is the latest blockbuster expected to create a new box office standard for COVID times. Before this weekend, Paramount’s “A Quiet Place Part II” had the pandemic-era launching weekend with $48.3 million in opening ticket sales.
“F9” wasn’t anticipated to reach the opening end of the week level of its franchise predecessors since audience hasn’t returned to pre-COVID levels and the Canadian box office, which accounts for major portion of North American sum, is still nearly completely closed down. In terms of “Fast” series opening, “F9” incorporates a slight edge on the 2019 spinoff “Hobbs & Shaw,” which produced $60 million and ended its dramatic run with $173 million within the U.S. and $759 million internationally
