Why Fast X box office will not cross one billion dollars

Fast X is the franchise’s most expensive movie, produced on a massive budget of $340 million. It had a huge global opening at the box office, which was the third-best performance for the franchise. The international market has continued to show good numbers after the second weekend as well, but unfortunately, the domestic numbers haven’t been that good.

Fast X opened with $67 million at the domestic box office but managed to bring its worldwide total to $318.9 million worldwide, thanks to its strong performance in the international market. The second weekend has also proven good as the film soared past $500 million and took the Fast Saga past $7 billion, making it the fifth biggest franchise of all time. But that’s where the glory ends.

Disclaimer: This article reflects the author's views on the subject.

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How Fast X performed on its second weekend

Vin Diesel in Fast 10 (Image via Universal)

The tenth installment of the Fast Saga competed with summer blockbusters like The Little Mermaid and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 during its second weekend (May 28-29) and suffered a massive drop of 65.7%. It only managed to bring in $23 million domestically. After adding Monday’s Memorial Day numbers, the domestic total has reached $113 million, which is seriously low for such an expensive film.

One could argue that the Fast Saga had always been more popular in the international market, and its global total after the second weekend stands at $512 million. But these numbers aren’t as good because there has also been a huge dip in the international performance.

China has been the greatest market for all Fast Saga movies, and Fast X secured Hollywood’s best opening of 2023 in the nation, making $51 million. However, these numbers are timid at best compared to what the franchise has done in China in the past. Even on the second weekend, Fast X suffered a 66% drop and only added $17.6 million to the Chinese box office total of $110 million.

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Why Fast X will not make anywhere close to $1 billion

Vin Diesel (Dominic Toretto) and John Cena (Jacob Toretto) in Fast 10 (Image via Universal)

Furious 7 made $353 million at the domestic box office, $390 million from China, and reached $1.5 billion worldwide. That’s where the Fast Saga peaked as its follow-up, The Fate of the Furious only made $226 million domestically and reached $1.236 billion worldwide on the back of China’s $392 million.

But coming to F9, there was a significant drop in the numbers as its global total was $726 million, out of which $216 million came from China, and the film only made $173 million domestically. So clearly, the US box office had already lost interest in the franchise. But even the Chinese numbers dipped big time.

Tej, Roman, Han, and Ramsey in Fast 10 (Image via Universal)

Now, with the aforementioned numbers of Fast 10 from the US and China, it’s clear that the upcoming weekends won’t be strong for the film either. So, the film certainly won’t end up anywhere near $1 billion, but there’s a huge chance that Vin Diesel’s latest outing may not even reach F9’s global total.

With the upcoming competition from Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (June 2), Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (June 9), The Flash (June 16), Elemental (June 16), and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (June 30), it is likely that Fast X will lose a lot of business throughout June, especially after facing huge drops in the second weekend itself.

It will be interesting to see if Universal Pictures makes any profits after Fast X hits digital platforms in the coming months.