As expected, Universal’s F9 cruised to an easy victory over the weekend, taking in a massive $30M on Friday en route to $70M over its first 3-days in over 4,000 theaters (per Deadline). That total actually trumps plenty of pre-pandemic openings, including Bad Boys for Life ($62.5M) and the Fast and Furious spinoff Hobbs & Shaw ($60M), even if it pales in comparison to previous Fast openings, namely Fast Five ($86M), Fast and Furious 6 ($97M), Furious 7 ($147M) and The Fate of the Furious ($98M).
F9 Sets Highest Opening Domestic Box Office Weekend Since 2019
F9, at the very least, shows that the theater experience isn’t dead. In fact, if you look at the Top 10, the top earners this weekend — F9, A Quiet Place Part II ($6.2M/$136.4M total), Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard ($4.875M/$25.8M total), and Peter Rabbit 2 ($4.85M/$28.8M total) — were films that didn’t open simultaneously on streaming platforms, which bodes well for potential box office hits like Top Gun: Maverick, Dune and No Time to Die. Overall, the box office is up 112% from last weekend with $99.1M — the best Friday-Sunday take during the pandemic.
Worldwide, F9 has stalled a bit, despite pulling in $204M from China. All told, the action sequel has pulled in $404.85M worldwide, a far cry from the $1.2 billion earned globally by Fate of the Furious and even off the $759M mark set by Hobbs and Shaw.
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Still, F9 is the highest-grossing film to be released during the pandemic, surpassing Warner Bros.’ Tenet ($363M).
Domestic Top 10
1. F9 (Uni) 4,179 theaters, Fri $30M/Sat $22.4M/Sun $17.6M/3-day $70M/Wk 1
2. A Quiet Place 2 (Par) 3,124 (-277) theaters, Fri $1.86M /Sat $2.48M / Sun $1.85M/3-day $6.2M (-32%)/Total $136.4M/Wk 5
3. Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard (LG) 3,361 theaters (+30), Fri $1.36M/ Sat $2M/Sun $1.5M/3-day $4.875M (-57%)/Total $25.8M/Wk 2
4. Peter Rabbit 2 (Sony) 3,331 theaters (-15) Fri $1.47M / Sat $1.95M/ Sun $1.43M/3-day $4.85M (-20%) /Total $28.8M/Wk 3
5. Cruella (Dis) 2,820 (-290) theaters Fri $1.1M/ Sat $1.52M/ Sun $1.08M/3-day est. $3.73M (-26%)/Total $71.3M/Wk 5
6. Conjuring 3 (NL) 2,668 (-612) theaters Fri $935K/Sat $1.13M/Sun $850K/3-day $2.92M (-42%)/Total: $59.1M/Wk 4
7. In the Heights (WB) 2,403 (-1,106) theaters Fri $655K/Sat $900K /Sun $675K/3-day $2.23M (-47%)/Total: $24.16M/Wk 3
8. Spirit Untamed (Uni/DWA) 1,773 (-1,194) theaters Fri $290K/Sat $440K /Sun $300K /3-day: $1.03M (-34%)/Total: $15.8M/Wk 4
9. 12 Mighty Orphans (SPC) 1,020 (-27) theaters Fri $164,3K/Sat $230,2K/Sun $197,3K/3-day $591,9K (-34%)/Total : $2.29M/Wk 3
10. Nobody (Uni) 110 (-197) theaters Fri $250K/Sat $180K/Sun $130K/3-day: $560K (+3390%)/Total : $26.7M/Wk 14
