F9 Poised for Big Opening at Chinese Box Office

Variety reports that F9, the latest installment of the Fast and Furious film franchise, is gearing up for a huge box office opening in China. Despite what Universal Pictures calls a “security threat” earlier in the week that caused the cancellation of a major promotion event in Shanghai, it looks like the movie is at the top of the box office chart in the county.

Per data from the ticket sales agency Maoyan, on Friday, F49 opened to RMB231 million ($35.8 million USD) by 5:30pm local time on Friday, and the film claimed an 88% market share. That currently gives the film a total of RMB292 million ($45.3 million USD) with early sneak previews and midnight screenings.

The film had reportedly earned more than $32.6 million in early ticket sales, which make it the biggest Hollywood tentpole of the year so far in China. The film is expected to finish with $162 million USD (RMB1.04 billion) over its three-day opening weekend and $337 million USD (RMB2.17 billion) over its full run. That said these Chinese box office numbers are still impressive based on recent standards due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the figures do look impressive, they would also make F9 the lowest grossing Fast and Furious installment in China in almost a decade. Previously, The Fate of the Furious in 2017 earned $393 million in China. In 2015, Furious 7 earned $391 million. They both out-performed the domestic grosses for both films at $226 million and $353 million respectively.

The security threat was reportedly serious enough that it was reported to local law enforcement. In a statement posted to Weibo on Tuesday, NBCUniversal stated, “Universal Pictures has received threats trying to stop the press conference from being held as planned, which have created certain safety hazards.”

F9, which stars Vin Diesel and John Cena, will hit US theaters on June 25.