The "Fast and Furious" franchise has long been an international hit. And the latest film in the series is off to a strong start, even at a Chinese box office recovering from the pandemic.
"Fast and Furious 9," or simply "F9," earned $162 million internationally over the weekend, with $135 million of that coming from China. It's the first Hollywood movie since 2019's "Avengers: Endgame" to crack $100 million in its opening weekend in China. The movie, which was delayed more than a year, doesn't open in the US until June 25.
The last two entries in the main series, "Furious 7" and "The Fate of the Furious," both grossed more than $1 billion globally and around $390 in China.
"F9's" early success offers fresh relief that big-budget Hollywood tentpoles can still perform well in a region that Hollywood has relied heavily on to boost global box-office numbers in recent years, but where local productions largely dominated during the pandemic.
The pandemic has greatly accelerated China's box-office dominance over the US, which could also have major ramifications.
Local movies accounted for 85% of China's box office in 2020, up from 60% in 2018, according to the analytics company Comscore. The top 10 grossing movies at the China box office from April 1, 2020 to March 29, 2021 were all locally produced.
Since then, "Godzilla vs. Kong" (which has made $183 million there) and now "Fast and Furious 9" have eased some concerns.
But while the US market is showing some signs of life ("Godzilla vs. Kong" is nearing $100 million domestically), China has dethroned the US as the biggest theatrical market in the world.
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