F9’s record-setting pandemic box office launch isn’t today’s only good news.
Universal/Original Film’s success hammers home how quickly & well moviegoing’s recovered this summer. Because “F9’s” not streaming for about six weeks, part of its audience didn’t stay home to watch it on the couch. If F9 had under-performed, that would have signaled serious concerns about moviegoers’ comfort level with cinemas.
We had an indication that younger moviegoers were eager to get back to theatres when Paramount/Platinum Dunes’ A QUIET PLACE 2 opened to $47.5M. But a horror thriller’s appeal isn’t broad enough to make it the right film to project moviegoing’s future.
F9 (pictured), however, has mainstream appeal. On Friday’s tracking its best first choice scores were from +25F, followed by +25M (one point less) & -25M (two points less). The lowest score was -25F (10 points below +25F).
The message F9 conveys is that moviegoers aren’t hesitating to return to theatres if they’re playing films they want to see. Studios that continue to hedge their event film bets by doing post-pandemic day & date streaming, now risk leaving money on the theatrical table.