Box Office: ‘F9’ Drives to Mighty $162 Million Debut Overseas

Ellise Shafer administratorWarner Bros. movie musical “In the Heights” is poised to top the domestic box office this weekend, though its 3-day estimate now sits lower than previous predictions.Earlier in the week, “In the Heights” — directed by Jon M.

Rebecca Davis editorDisney’s “Cruella” strut into China on Sunday with a $1.78 million opening day, coming in sixth in a slow weekend behind reigning box office champ “F9,” according to data from Maoyan.Day one China figures for “Cruella” were less than a fourth of the $7.7 million the film grossed on its May 28 opening day in North America, where it premiered in theaters and on Disney Plus via a $30 fee.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter“F9,” the latest installment in Universal’s high octane franchise, has crossed a major box office milestone internationally.The film, starring Vin Diesel, John Cena and Michelle Rodriguez, surpassed the $250 million mark overseas, including a huge $203 million in China.Of course, “F9” carries a massive production budget and will require outsized global ticket sales to turn a profit.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaAnd exhale. The movie business is breathing a little easier after Paramount’s “A Quiet Place Part II” roared to $57 million over the Memorial Day Weekend in a sign that cinemas are back after more than a year of pandemic era closures, capacity restrictions, and skittish customers.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“F9” downshifted dramatically from a furious start in Chinese cinemas a week ago to a more pedestrian $20.5 million second weekend. But that was still good enough to take first place ahead of two significant foreign releases.The “Fast & Furious” franchise title lost 84% of its pace on its second lap, compared with a blistering opening weekend of $137 million.

Refresh for latest…: It was a busy weekend at global turnstiles, with a particularly noisy start for Paramount’s A Quiet Place Part II. The John Krasinski-helmed sequel came out shouting with a $22M overseas debut in just 12 markets for a worldwide opening of $70.4M including the three-day $48.4M North American haul.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterYou can almost hear the collective sigh of relief from studio executives across Hollywood.After a brutal year and change for the movie theater business, the North American box office is finally showing signs of life again.That’s mostly thanks to John Krasinski’s thriller “A Quiet Place Part II,” which has collected $48 million between Friday and Sunday — the biggest three-day haul of the pandemic era.

EXCLUSIVE: In a competitive situation with multiple bidders, Apple has landed The Big Door Prize, a half-hour comedy based on M.O. Walsh’s bestselling novel, with a 10-episode straight-to-series order. The project hails from Emmy-winning Schitt’s Creek writer/executive producer David West Read, Skydance Television and Parasite producer CJ ENM/Studio Dragon.

Endeavor has agreed to acquire China-based sports digital agency Mailman Group, according to a report today in Sports Business.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefEndeavor China, part of talent, sports and media agency Endeavor, is poised to acquire the Chinese firm Mailman Group.The Shanghai-based Mailman is a sports digital agency that covers strategy and marketing, content production, management of social media accounts, influencer marketing, sponsorship activation, PR and communications.The transaction is reported to be valued at $60 million and will be effected through Endeavor China, according to Sports Business,

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Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“F9” roared into the lead at the China box office, where the “Fast and Furious” franchise has repeatedly lapped faster than in North America.On its first weekend in China the film grossed $137 million, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway.That gave it an 83% share of the China weekend box office, a market share figure that was notably stable from its Friday lights out.

That makes the “Fast & Furious” franchise the sixth in box office history to reach $6 billion in lifetime grosses, largely off of a launch in China that came with the most expansive marketing campaign for a “F&F” film ever in the country that yielded the second-highest Chinese opening ever for Universal. Only “The Fate of the Furious” in 2017 earned a higher opening with $184.9 million.

Ellise Shafer administrator“F9,” the ninth installment in Universal’s “Fast and Furious” franchise, is speeding toward a pandemic-era box office record.The film has generated $127 million at the international box office to date, and it’s expected to gross more than $160 million through Sunday.

As a result, “F9” is the first Hollywood blockbuster since “Avengers: Endgame” to post a $100 million-plus opening in China, and has earned the largest global opening for a Hollywood film since the start of the pandemic. The film has also opened in Korea ($7.7 million), Russia ($6.4 million), Hong Kong ($2.2 million), and the Middle East ($5.5 million), scoring the strongest pandemic-era opening weekends in all those markets.

Rebecca Davis editorChina’s Dalian Wanda Group has dumped almost all of its remaining holdings in AMC Entertainment for $426 million, bringing its stake down to just 0.002%, according to a Friday regulatory filing.Since last Thursday, it has sold off 30.4 million of its AMC shares, leaving it now just 10,000 shares,The development marks the conglomerate’s latest move to shed overseas assets and retrench in China, a process begun in recent years after it came under scrutiny from Chinese

Rebecca Davis editor“F9,” the latest installment in the “Fast & Furious” franchise, is already revving up for a box office takeover — though a notably less spectacular one than other franchise films in years past.Its release appears not to have been marred by what Universal Pictures called a security “threat” earlier this week that forced the studio to abruptly cancel a major promotional event in Shanghai.“F9” racked up more than $32.6 million (RMB210 million) in pre-sale tickets, making it the

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter“F9” could send the box office into overdrive when it debuts overseas this weekend.The latest entry in Universal’s high-octane franchise, which opens in Korea, Hong Kong, the Middle East, Russia and China in the coming days, is expected to bring in at least $150 million to $180 million at the international box office.