‘F9’ Supercharges Box Office With $68 Million Launch

Black Widow is making history with its box office earnings and the film has now clinched a massive opening weekend collection of USD 80 million in the US as reported by Variety. It's the highest debut ever since the pandemic.

This weekend saw Disney test out a hybrid release with one of their top-tier releases, as “Black Widow” starring Scarlett Johansson hit both theaters and Premier Access on Disney+ this weekend. The studio had delayed the film’s release by more than a year due to the pandemic, and it seems to have paid off in a major way.

Rebecca Davis editorThe tear-jerking, patriotic pandemic film “Chinese Doctors” locked down a $53.5 million China opening weekend, according to Maoyan, setting itself up to become the most commercially successful political tribute film so far this year.Such films have been helped along by a line-up cleared of competitors.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterDisney and Marvel’s superhero adventure “Black Widow” captured a massive $80 million in its first weekend, crushing the benchmark for the biggest opening weekend since the pandemic.In a first for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the film opened simultaneously in theaters and on Disney Plus as part of the streaming service’s Premier Access offering, where subscribers can rent “Black Widow” for an extra $30.

Just as notable is Disney’s announcement that the Marvel film earned over $60 million worldwide from its Premier Access program, which made “Black Widow” available at home for Disney+ subscribers for $30. This is the first time that Disney has released any PVOD numbers since “Mulan” moved from theaters to Premier Access last summer, with the studio retaining all revenue from those PVOD sales as opposed to splitting it with theaters.

Marvel's first release since the pandemic began, Black Widow is already setting records at the box office. After Vin Diesel's F9 provided the much-needed boost to the box office amid the pandemic-hit business, Scarlett Johansson's superhero film is now making a bigger impact with its strong start at the box office.

That is in line with what industry projections had set for the first Marvel film in two years, easily topping the $70 million opening of Universal’s “F9” but opening shy of the $100 million mark and just below the $92.5 million earned by “Spider-Man: Far From Home” in July 2019. As usual, Marvel fans have embraced the film with audience reception showing an A- on CinemaScore and a 92% Rotten Tomatoes score to go with an 80% critics score.

Ellise Shafer administratorMarvel’s “Black Widow” is poised to make an $87.8 million debut at the domestic box office, which would best the pandemic-era opening record previously held by “F9.”Having raked in a mighty $39.5 million on Friday from 4,160 theaters, “Black Widow” is set to easily earn another $48 million on Saturday and Sunday, with a final number that may shoot even higher than industry estimates.

Black Widow might be making major bank at the box office for opening weekend.

“Black Widow,” Marvel’s superhero film starring Scarlett Johansson, made $13.2 million from Thursday box office previews that began at 5:00 p.m.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media“Black Widow” marks the return of Marvel movies to cinemas after a long and arduous COVID era absence. There’s clearly been a lot of pent-up demand for all things MCU.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter“Black Widow,” the Disney and Marvel standalone superhero adventure starring Scarlett Johansson, launched internationally on Wednesday and collected $4.9 million in ticket sales from 11 overseas markets.The comic book adaptation, the first Marvel movie to grace cinemas in two years, had the strongest start in the United Kingdom, where it generated $1.7 million on its first day of release.

Rebecca Davis editorChina’s two new propaganda films topped the box office over their first weekend in theaters, but it appears that the politically correct content may not prove popular enough to drive sales at blockbuster levels.Most of the biggest local blockbusters set to hit China over the rest of the year are propaganda titles.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter“F9” has the box office in overdrive. The ninth installment in Universal’s action-packed “Fast and Furious” franchise has surpassed $500 million in global ticket sales, solidifying its place as Hollywood’s biggest theatrical hit of the pandemic era.Other than “Hi, Mom” ($822 million) and “Detective Chinatown 3” ($686 million), which were both produced in China, “F9” is the only movie to cross the $500 million milestone since 2019.

While Sunday numbers are expected to be lower than usual due to 4th of July festivities, Universal projects that its three films will gross a combined $75 million when Monday numbers are included. That would push the overall 4-day total to $101 million, just above the $98.3 million fueled by Paramount’s “A Quiet Place — Part II” on Memorial Day weekend.

The studio boasts that this is the first time a studio has done a podium sweep on the weekend charts since Sony in February 2005 and the first time Universal has achieved it since the release of the Al Pacino thriller “Sea of Love” in September 1989. Such a feat is so uncommon because studios generally space out the releases of their films to avoid having them compete with each other for audience attention.

Ellise Shafer administrator“F9,” the ninth installment in the “Fast and Furious” franchise, is holding its own at the top of the domestic box office charts in its second week of release.Over the Fourth of July long weekend, the action flick is expected to add another $32.9 million to its gross from 4,203 theaters, raising its cume to a stunning $126 million.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaDreamWorks Animation’s “The Boss Baby: Family Business” and Blumhouse and Universal’s “The Forever Purge” both netted $1.3 million each in Thursday previews.The two sequels, which appeal to vastly different segments of the moviegoing audience, will likely be overshadowed by the second weekend grosses of “F9,” which is expected to earn roughly $28 million over the July 4th holiday.