Universal announces eight weeks of free Fast & Furious screenings
To celebrate the newest chapter in the Fast & Furious franchise premiering in theaters on June 25, 2021 — and to welcome Fast Fans back to the movies — Universal Pictures has announced eight weeks of free nationwide screenings of all eight previous Fast & Furious films.
To mark the arrival of “F9,” the studio and its theater partners across the U.S. will launch “Fast Fridays,” a free screening series of all eight previous Fast films in chronological order, beginning on April 30, with the franchise’s original blockbuster, “The Fast & The Furious” and culminating with 2017’s “The Fate of the Furious” on June 18.
“The Fast films are all about family, and Universal wanted to find a way to thank our huge family of Fast fans around the country for their passion and loyalty over the past 20 years,” said Universal’s President of Domestic Theatrical Distribution Jim Orr. “We’re grateful to our theater partners for their help in making this screening series possible, and we are delighted to welcome audiences back to theaters to experience the wild Fast ride all over again. And we cannot wait to blow everyone’s minds with the release of ‘F9’ on June 25.”
Universal Pictures’ Fast Saga has become the studio’s most-profitable and longest-running franchise. Following 2017’s “The Fate of the Furious” (which debuted in theaters as the biggest global opening of all time), the franchise has expanded to include toys and video games as well as an all-new animated series and a successfully launched spin-off franchise.
During the eight-week program, fans will have the opportunity to watch the Fast films free of charge, with one film screening each Friday. The screening series will launch in more than 500 theaters across the U.S. and expand to more than 900 theaters. Theaters that join the series after April 30 will begin with whichever film is scheduled to screen that week.
Participating theaters include AMC Theatres, Regal, Cinemark Theatres, Marcus Theatres, Harkins Theatres, Showcase Cinemas, Santikos Entertainment, B&B Theatres, Cinépolis USA, Georgia Theatre Company, Marquee Cinemas, Epic Theatres, EVO Cinemas, Megaplex Theatres, Maya Cinemas, Xscape Theatres, Silverspot Cinema, Golden Star Theaters, MovieScoop Cinemas, and Premiere Cinemas.
In addition to the screening series, Entertainment Weekly’s popular BINGE Podcast will take fans through each of the previous Fast films in an eight-week series, with each episode focusing on one movie in the franchise and an exclusive conversation with a Fast cast member from that particular film. Beginning April 30, a new episode will drop each “Fast Friday” leading up to the release of “F9.”
The “Fast Fridays” Fast & Furious screening schedule is as follows:
- April 30, 2021 – “The Fast and the Furious”
- May 7, 2021 – “2 Fast 2 Furious”
- May 14, 2021 – “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift”
- May 21, 2021 – “Fast & Furious”
- May 28, 2021 – “Fast Five”
- June 4, 2021 – “Fast & Furious 6”
- June 11, 2021 – “Furious 7”
- June 18, 2021 – “The Fate of the Furious”
Screening tickets will be distributed by each theater and will be available the Friday before each weekly screening, starting on Friday, April 30. Click here for more information.
In the ninth chapter in the Fast & Furious Saga, Vin Diesel’s Dom Toretto is leading a quiet life with Letty and his son, but a threat forces Dom to confront his past if he’s going to save those he loves most. His crew joins together to stop the most skilled assassin and high-performance driver they’ve ever encountered: a man who also happens to be Dom’s brother, Jakob (John Cena).
“F9” sees the return of Justin Lin as director — who also directed the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth chapters of the series — and stars returning cast members Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jordana Brewster, and Sung Kang, along with Kurt Russell and Oscar winners Helen Mirren and Charlize Theron. “F9” also features Grammy-winning superstar Cardi B as new franchise character Leysa, a woman with a connection to Dom’s past, and a cameo by Reggaeton sensation Ozuna.
Check out the official “F9” trailer below:
