In holdover news, F9 is dive-bombing in China with just $9 million on its second Saturday, down 81% from its $48 million first-Saturday gross (that’s bad). With $177 million in China alone, Fast & Furious 9 might pass Godzilla Vs. Kong ($188 million) by Monday (that’s good). Justin Lin’s decently-reviewed sequel (65% fresh so far) will have to depend far more on other territories (that’s bad). The boffo debut of A Quiet Place part II implies that F9 might pull close to what had been expected in 2020 at least in North America (that’s good). Fate of the Furious only earned $226 million domestic in 2017, with 1/3 of its $1.236 billion global gross coming from China (that’s bad). The latest “Vin Diesel and friends” action caper has crossed $200 million worldwide in 1.5 weeks of play (that’s good).

For what it’s worth, the film has been dinged by poor word of mouth in China since the midnight previews, with a mediocre weekend multiplier ($136 million from a $58 million opening day) and swiftly decreasing weekday grosses portending doom for weekend two. Point being, F9 is dropping hard because Chinese moviegoers aren’t big on it, just as they deserted Detective Chinatown 3 after its record $398.5 million opening. That Chinese blockbuster earned a poor 1.72 multiplier and ended with “just” $685 million as fellow New Years opening Hi, Mom soared to $825 million. So while the John Cena-specific controversy over classifying Taiwan as a country didn’t help, that’s not a major cause for this downward trend. The movie is to blame, at least in the eyes of Chinese moviegoers, not any off-screen controversies.

Meanwhile, Spiral: From the Book of Saw earned $620,000 (-56%) yesterday for a likely $2.16 million (-53%) Fri-Sun/$2.76 million Fri-Mon holiday frame. That’ll give the $20 million, Chris Rock-starring horror flick a $20.3 million 18-day domestic cume. It’s going to tap out at about what Saw 3-D earned ($23 million) on its opening weekend in October of 2010, and it’ll be available on PVOD beginning June 1. Game over (maybe). Wrath of Man will earn $2.48 million over the holiday even as it arrived on PVOD early this week. The Guy Ritchie-directed actioner will have $22.5 million domestic by Monday, which is actually on the lower end of “pretty good” (Mechanic: Resurrection, Homefront, War, Killer Elite, The Transporter) for  a solo Jason Statham action movie. We’ll see if it’s over $80 million worldwide by tomorrow.

Walt Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon earned another $650,000 (-12%) on its 13th Friday for a likely $1.67 million (-0%) Fri-Sun/$2.17 million Fri-Mon weekend. That’ll push the Kelly Marie Tran/Awkwafina action fantasy to $51 million. The film may have opened soft. It may be a commercial disaster by any rational standard. However, it has been among the leggiest movies of the Covid era with 5.8x (and counting) its $8.7 million debut. If little else, this implies that Cruella may indeed stick around for much of the summer and earn a multiplier closer to Aladdin (3 x $117 million in 2019) than Solo (2 x $103 million in 2018). Funimation’s hugely successful domestic release of Demon Slayer: The Movie will have another $1.08 million over the holiday to bring its cume to $46.8 million.

Godzilla Vs. Kong, the movie that more-or-less saved the summer movie season by notching “business as usual” box office back in late March, will have around $1.04 million over the holiday for a $98.44 million running cume. At this point, I can’t imagine why Warner Bros. doesn’t drag it over the $100 million mark just for show. Heck, with two biggies dropping in two weeks (The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It on June 4 and In the Heights on June 11), I’d seriously consider a “two for one” sneak preview for one or both WB newbies in WB’s future. I’d say pair GvK with In the Heights and Conjuring 3 with the also R-rated Those Who Wish Me Dead ($6.95 million after Monday), but the Angelina Jolie flick is still on HBO Max.

Or hell, be a troll and pair up Conjuring 3 with Tom & Jerry ($45 million), or In the Heights with Mortal Kombat ($42 million). That you can mix and match these is a testament to how much “big” product Warner Bros. has offered in the early months of 2021. If movie theaters really are “back” after A Quiet Place part II’s blockbuster debut weekend, then a tip of the hat must go to Universal and Focus for offering a slew of late-2020 studio programmers to starving theaters and then to Warner Bros. for offering a handful of “big” titles in early 2021. Sure, there may have been ulterior motives (Comcast wanted to test out its PVOD plan and AT&T wanted to boost HBO Max), but the end result was a net-positive for desperate theaters.