We all knew that Fast & Furious 9 was going to obliterate all standing pandemic-era box office records, but months from now we could all be looking back at the return of Dominic Toretto and his crew as the pivotal moment for the resurgence of the theatrical industry following the devastating impact of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Not only was the movie’s $70 million haul well ahead of Universal’s $60 million projections, but it was also a bigger opening weekend than spinoff Hobbs & Shaw managed in the summer of 2019, and that was with business running at full capacity, not to mention the presence of proven action stars Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham in the lead roles.
F9‘s debut was also in excess of $20 million ahead of previous pandemic-era record holder A Quiet Place Part II‘s $48 million bow, and it’s the largest three-day frame enjoyed by a Hollywood blockbuster under any circumstances since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was released in December 2019.
Understandably, then, Vin Diesel was keen to celebrate in a new interview that the ninth installment in the globetrotting series has set the benchmark that the rest of 2021’s big budget offerings will be hoping to emulate.
“I think what feels best is just the idea that people are returning to the theatrical experience. It feels good to say, ‘Cinema is back!’. You can’t fault another studio for wanting to stream a movie, but the ones like Universal are bold enough to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to support the theatrical release’. I take my hat off to them.”
After another stellar weekend internationally, Fast & Furious 9‘s global tally is sitting at just a shade under $405 million, and by the end of the week it’ll also pass Godzilla vs. Kong to become the most commercially successful Hollywood production since the beginning of 2020, so it’s high fives and back-slapping all around for the cast and crew. Of course, records are made to be broken, so let’s hope that the remaining six months of the year can come close to matching these sorts of numbers.