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

“F9” has the international box office sizzling.The latest installment in Universal’s testosterone-fueled franchise kicked off with a massive $162.4 million in eight markets, including China, Korea and Hong Kong.

Those ticket sales easily mark the best start for a Hollywood blockbuster since Covid-19 hit.It’s an encouraging start to summer movie season, particularly because revenues weren’t far off from what a “Fast” movie would have generated at the box office in non-pandemic times.“Moviegoers are eager to come back to theaters when the right movie is out there,” Universal’s president of international distribution Veronika Kwan Vandenberg said.

“It’s a great movie for the China market,” she adds.

“It has a strong fanbase.”Of this weekend’s $162 million bounty, $135 million came from China alone.

That ranks as the second-biggest launch for the series in the country following the eighth entry, 2017’s “The Fate of the Furious” ($184 million).

In another notable milestone,

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