F9 releases on-demand Friday, July 30, after a successful box office run. The ninth film in the Fast & Furious franchise sees Dominic Toretto and his ragtag family of international criminals face off against Dom's estranged and vengeful younger brother Jakob (John Cena). Dom's brother teams up with Cipher (Charlize Theron) to steal a device that can hack into any computer-controlled weapons system on Earth. After multiple delays, the movie was finally released internationally on May 19 and in the U.S. on June 25.
Universal's hesitations proved exceptionally savvy, with F9's $70 million haul during its first weekend handily beating every other 2021 release by a mile. Not only did its opening weekend sales exceed previous record holder A Quiet Place Part II, but F9 also had the best debut since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Despite becoming one of the more divisive films in the franchise thanks to its bloated runtime and over-the-top action sequences, it's earned $622 million worldwide during its run so far.
Rotten Tomatoes' Erik Davis tweeted that F9 will be available for rent on video-on-demand (VOD) services Friday, July 30. The announcement comes after Universal struck a deal with major theater chains last year to require any movie that makes more than $50 million in its opening weekend play exclusively in theaters for at least five full weekends before hitting VOD, a condition that F9 fulfills. Check out Davis's tweet below, which also includes an interview with Vin Diesel on meeting Paul Walker during the filming of the first Fast & Furious movie:
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Though the price point may vary by territory, F9 will likely cost viewers $20 to rent once it hits VOD services on Friday. Universal has made a strong push in recent months to be as strategic as possible with its new titles long after leaving theaters. The latest example is the studio's decision to put its 2022 releases on Peacock after its deal with HBO expires this year. Since NBCUniversal owns both Peacock and Universal Pictures, the decision follows the recent trend of studios regaining control of their movies and housing them on their parent company's streaming service following years of licensing them out to Netflix and other older streamers.
F9 still has the potential to rev up way more profits before settling down on a streaming service. Fans of the franchise may be more reticent than ever to venture out to theaters right now amid the Delta variant's spread across the country, making the $20 VOD price point an attractive alternative. That extra revenue from home viewers, combined with the movie's continued theatrical run beyond the VOD release, could end up giving F9, at the very least, the longest legs of any other film in the franchise.
Source: Erik Davis/Twitter