Universal's action film 'F9: The Fast Saga' dominated the North American box office with a huge 70 million U.S. dollars opening from 4,179 theatres, smashing pandemic-era weekend box office record in the region. According to studio figures collected by measurement firm Comscore, it's the biggest opening for a film in North America since 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker', which released in December 2019 with a 177 million dollars opening weekend.

The previous record-holder during the Covid-19 pandemic was Paramount's horror film 'A Quiet Place Part II', which opened last month with a 3-day total of 48.3 million dollars from 3,726 North American theatres. Helmed by Chinese American director Justin Lin, the latest in Vin Diesel's on-going "Fast & Furious" franchise, his ode to fast cars and faster action, is based on a script co-written by Lin and Daniel Casey, and features an all-star line of Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, John Cena, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jordana Brewster, Sung Kang, and others.