Despite John Cena apology to China, F9 viewership slumps in second weekend

“Fast and Furious 9” or “F9” has seen its viewership drop by 85 per cent after John Cena apologised for slighting China by referring to Taiwan as a country.

But the slump could be unrelated to this mistake because films have been known to fail to repeat their opening day numbers on many occasions. Yet, it is also difficult to disregard it as analysts all agree that the landslide shift is abnormal.

In the opening weekend, “F9” made $136 million in ticket sales in China alone. Then, it could only report a measly $20.8 million in its second week as Chinese viewers failed to turn out.

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The projection is now that the film could finish at $211.9 million in China, according to Maoyan, a Chinese ticketing app. For context, “Furious 7” made $390.9 million while “The Fate of the Furious” earned $392.8 million in the country during their respective theatrical runs.

And it is impossible to blame the pandemic for the film’s woes because the Chinese box office is already in full flow. In February 2021, a local comedy “Hi, Mom” made $825 million in the cinemas, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Whatever the case is, Universal Pictures will have to go all out in marketing the film when it hits US cinemas on 25 June 2021 if it is to cross the $1 billion mark that its recent predecessors reached.

“F9” has grossed $229 million worldwide at the time this article was published. You may also like to read our recent article Zack Snyder says zombies in “Army of The Dead” have sex.