F9: The Fast Saga had a massive US opening at the Box Office the last weekend. While a couple years ago it might have been considered a smaller total, the $70 million domestic mark for the ninth installment of the Vin Diesel led franchise is the biggest opening in the United States in over a year and a half. The last film surpassing that total was Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker all the way back in December 2019.

The US and the world as a whole, while it might not feel like it, is in fact a year and a half removed from the final chapter of the Skywalker Saga. After a year of closures, delays, and a massive pandemic, it seems as if the summer box office, at least in the US, is returning to some sort of normalcy. As the joke at the beginning of the pandemic was “that the world was healing,” now it seems that the box office and Hollywood are now healing.

As mask mandates subside and vaccinations increase, the movie-going audience seems itching to go back to the theaters, though only for the proper movie.

It was reported last week that In the Heights only made $11 million at the box office, when low projections had it at at least $20 million then on Sunday $13 million, until finally the actual numbers came out on Monday to roughly $11.4 million. However, with F9, a tried and true franchise, movie goers came out in droves on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The film making $30 million, $22 million, and $17 million, respectively, over the weekend, according to Box Office Mojo.

Each day made more than the total box office for In the Heights in its first weekend. This also beat the first big box office post the pandemic in A Quiet Place Part II, which made just around $50 million in its opening weekend.

If F9 is any signal for the rest of the summer domestic US box office, it seems to signal a safe return to movie going and to the theaters.

Coming to cinemas shortly are Black Widow, Space Jam: New Legacy, and The Suicide Squad. However, it is important to note that F9 was released only in theaters, while all of the other films listed do have hybrid releases on their respective streaming services. It will certainly be interesting to see how these films perform in a nearly post-COVID United States.

F9: The Fast Saga is in theaters now.