F9 Makes Over $7 Million In Theaters For Thursday's Box Office

F9, which hit theaters in the US on June 21, is picking up impressive speed in the box office--making $7.1 million from the 3,100 theaters that screened the film Thursday alone according to Deadline. On Friday, the movie will expand out to 4,179 theaters, which is the widest release for a film released during COVID-19.

This, after earlier this month, F9 already grossed $250 million in the international box office. While these numbers are truly impressive and indicate a healthy demand for the theatergoing experience in general and this franchise in particular, it still has a ways to go to catch up to 2017's The Fate of the Furious, which grossed $1.2 billion.

Deadline is forecasting F9 may net around $60 or $70 million over the upcoming weekend, but also points out that due to presales from ticketing services such as Fandago--which have already preloaded sales for screenings that haven't yet happened--there may be leaps in attendance numbers already laying in wait.

As moviegoers and the movies return to the theaters, F9 will stand as a pretty good litmus test of how cinemas are likely to fare in the near future. F9 is only available to watch in theaters, and will be followed over the summer by other high-profile movies that were delayed during 2019: Marvel's Black Widow arrives on July 9, with Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, Jungle Cruise, The Suicide Squad, Hotel Transylvania: Transformania, and Space Jam: A New Legacy all following over the next few weeks.

In his review for GameSpot, Chris E. Hayner described it as "loud, explosive, and filled with the type of action dying to be seen on the big screen in a room with other fans to go along with you on the ride."