Although we reunited with Dwayne Johnson’s Luke Hobbs and Jason Statham’s Dekcard Shaw in 2019 for Hobbs & Shaw, until last month, we hadn’t seen Dominic Toretto and his gang in action since 2017’s The Fate of the Furious. That has finally been rectified, as after previously being scheduled to come out in April 2020, F9 finally hit theaters on June 25. A little over one month later, Tyrese Gibson, who’s been playing Roman Pearce since 2003’s 2 Fast 2 Furious, has sounded off about how pleased he is at the ninth Fast & Furious movie’s box office performance.
F9 has officially crossed the $600 million mark worldwide, specifically standing at $641.7 million as of this writing. Considering how much of the theatrical industry is still being impacted by the pandemic, Tyrese Gibson said on Instagram that the movie making this much money during such troubling times means a lot to him. You can read his comments in full below.
It is worth noting that F9 is the lowest-grossing movie in the Fast & Furious franchise since 2011’s Fast Five, which pulled in $626.1 million worldwide. However, Fast & Furious 6, Furious 7, The Fate of the Furious and Hobbs & Shaw all had the benefit of opening at times when a virus wasn’t impacting everyday life. Theaters are certainly in a better position now than they were for the majority of 2020, but turnout isn’t as high as it was during the Before Times. So when looked at through that lens, it’s understandable why Tyrese Gibson is happy with how things have gone for F9 so far.
To be sure, if F9 had managed to come out before 2020 or had been held for after the pandemic had subsided, it’s possible it could have hit the $1 billion mark, just like Furious 7 and The Fate of the Furious did. However, F9 didn’t wrap filming until November 2019, so a pre-2020 release was not happening, and since the movie had already been delayed over a year, it’s hardly shocking that Universal Pictures wanted to get it on the calendar once theaters started reopening, even at reduced capacity and with other health and safety measures in place.
In any case, F9 is now the third highest-grossing movie of 2021, ahead of Hollywood offerings like Godzilla vs. Kong (4th) and Black Widow (5th), and trailing behind Chinese releases Hi, Mom (1st) and Detective Chinatown 3 (2nd). Furthermore, along with it still playing in theaters, F9 is also now available for digital rental, so that’ll add a little extra change to Universal’s coffers. There’s been no word yet on when the movie’s full home media release will unfold, though sometime in October or November at the latest sounds about right.
Now that F9 is accessible to the public, there are only two more main Fast & Furious movies to look forward to, though there’s also Hobbs & Shaw 2 and a female-led spinoff in development to further expand the franchise. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for updates on those projects, and don’t forget to read our F9 review and browse through our 2021 release schedule.
