Screentime

‘F9’ Propels Box Office to Biggest Weekend Since Pandemic

  • Car-chase movie generates $70 million in weekend sales
  • Overall box office more than doubles from last weekend’s

Vin Diesel attends Universal Pictures "F9" World Premiere in Hollywood.

Photographer: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

“F9,” the latest installment of the Fast & Furious franchise, turbocharged the domestic box office this weekend, drawing audiences back into theaters at a pace not seen since early 2020.

The feature from Comcast Corp.’s Universal Pictures generated $70 million in weekend ticket sales, according to researcher Comscore Inc., higher than the industry estimate of $67 million, walloping the current largest film debut during pandemic times. The result amounts to an average opening weekend for a movie in the Fast & Furious series, but still thrills theater owners and studios, which have been starved of new big-budget films for 15 months.