F9 Expecting $70 Million Opening Weekend - the Most Successful Box Office Opening Since 2019

Movie theaters have been in an economic drought since the COVID-19 pandemic began, but F9 just made it rain.

The ninth film in the Fast & Furious franchise is expected to gross $70 million in its opening weekend in the United States and Canada, according to CNBC. This will make the Vin Diesel vehicle the most successful domestic opening since the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic began in March 2020.

After its global premiere last month in South Korea, when it became the top movie at the worldwide box office with a reported $162.4 million, the blockbuster has since garnered more than $405 million globally.

The movie's success follows last month's release of A Quiet Place Part II, which opened to just under $50 million in ticket sales. Cruella opened the same weekend to $37.4 million, and Godzilla vs. Kong opened in April to $32.2 million.

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F9's opening weekend also lined up with much of the country rolling back COVID regulations, with many movie theaters reopening. According to data from Comscore, 80% of North American theaters are open. Lockdown aside, it was the biggest opening weekend since 2019's Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

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After the premiere was delayed several times, F9 is one of the first movies since the pandemic started to open exclusively in theaters, whereas many recent big budget films have premiered simultaneously in theaters and on streaming platforms.

In addition to Diesel, F9 also stars Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, John Cena, Jordana Brewster, Nathalie Emmanuel, Sung Kang, Michael Rooker, Helen Mirren, Kurt Russell, and Charlize Theron.

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"F9 is the first true summer blockbuster released in over two years and all eyes were on this performance to provide a glimpse into the future of the movie theater," Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore, told CNBC. "And that future now looks very bright and bodes well for the big films now in the pipeline set for release in the coming weeks and months."

Although the opening fell short of 2017's Fate of the Furious, which earned $98 million in its opening weekend, F9 surpassed the 2019 spin-off Hobbs & Shaw, which opened to $60 million.