The ninth installment of the Fast & Furious franchise ‘F9’ has taken a bumper opening at the China box office.
The much-awaited Universal’s ‘F9’ officially landed in China yesterday and blistered a huge $59.1 million to record the biggest Hollywood opening of the pandemic era and the second biggest pandemic opening behind Detective Chinatown 3. The film is also doing good business in Korea, Hong Kong, Russia, and the Middle East where it opened on Wednesday and Thursday.
With $10 million coming in from other territories, the international box office total of ‘F9’ till Friday stands approx. at $70 million. This is definitely a solid opening considering the current global situation. The opening day in China is the third biggest for Universal Pictures behind two previous Fast & Furious movies.
F9 is projected to gross $150 million in its opening weekend and $350 million over its full run at the China box office. Although look insane, these numbers are less than the Chinese gross of The Fate Of The Furious ($393 million) and Furious 7 ($391 million). Both films were far more successful in China than in North America.
Universal Pictures’ action-packed thriller has opened in select markets overseas ahead of its June 25 release in North America. This week, the film has released in China, South Korea, Russia, Hong Kong, and the Middle East.
Directed by Justin Lin, F9 is a sequel to the 2017 blockbuster The Fate of the Furious. Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, John Cena, Jordana Brewster, Nathalie Emmanuel, Sung Kang starrer has received mixed reviews from the critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, 33% of six critics awarded ‘F9’ a positive review, with an average rating of 5/10.
