Brodigan - June 01, 2021 at 10:33AM
The only thing worse than bending over and spreading cheeks for Communist China? Bending over, spreading cheeks, and not getting paid for it. John Cena was forced last week to beg for China's forgiveness. He was doing promo for F9 and called Taiwan a "country." Taiwan IS a country. You just can't say that out loud. Cena was forced to grovel and show how tiny his testicles were because if he didn't, the movie franchise would lose money. So he did.
And the move franchise, allegedly, lost money anyway.
Chinese filmgoers have hit the brakes on Justin Lin's F9. The Universal tentpole downshifted 85 percent in its second weekend, earning just $20.8 million compared to its $136 million roaring opening weekend.
That's far weaker than the preceding franchise mainstays Furious 7 and The Fate of the Furious, which topped out at $390.9 million in 2015 and $392.8 million in 2017, respectively. Chinese ticketing app Maoyan currently projects F9 to finish at $211.9 million.
Sure, $211.9 million is a sh!tton of money. But Hollywood blockbusters are based on expectations. They expect to make MORE money than the last movies. Not almost 50% LESS. Plus that $211 million doesn't factor in exorbitant actor salaries, marketing, the cost of making a movie where cars ignore all laws of gravity, etc.
It's hard to tell for sure if Cena's international incident is what cost the studio all this money. The article says reviews were pretty bad as well. Maybe the Chinese all woke up one day and realized the Fast & Furious franchise is the Wuhan Institute of movie franchises. Just saying, there could be a number of factors.
It could only be ironic that after Cena upset the CCP, the box office fell by 85%. I doubt it is, though. And that makes Cena's pathetic video all the more embarrassing.
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