The summer blockbuster season is revving up for one major comeback after spending a year sitting idle due to the pandemic. So Universal Pictures is helping audiences get prepared for it to celebrate the arrival of F9, the newest chapter in the Fast and Furious Saga, in theaters June 25. The studio and its theater partners across the U.S. will launch a free nationwide screening series of all eight previous Fast films, beginning April 30, 2021.
According to the Universal Pictures’ press release, “Fast Friday the eight-week program will invite fans to watch all eight previous Fast films in participating theaters, free of charge, with one film screening each Friday. The films will be screened in chronological order, beginning with 2001’s ‘The Fast and the Furious’ on April 30 and culminating with 2017’s ‘The Fate of the Furious’ on June 18.”
The re-release of all eight films on an eight week basis is a fantastic way to coax audiences back into theaters by giving them some of the best popcorn fare for free in over 500 participating theaters now that the vaccine rollout is happening. The free screenings will eventually expand to more than 900 theaters. Theaters that join the screening series after April 30 will begin their screenings with whichever film is already scheduled to screen in that week.
It should be fun to revisit some of these films on the big screen as they were meant to be seen. Honestly, I already own a few of them, and while they are fun, they are nothing compared to watching it in a theater.
“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 Jim Orr, Universal’s President of Domestic Theatrical Distribution. “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.
Screening tickets will be distributed by each individual theater and will be available the Friday before each weekly screening, starting on Friday, April 30.
Visit www.FastFridayScreenings.com for further information on how to receive tickets.
The full schedule of screenings is as follows:
Friday, 4/30 – “The Fast and the Furious”
Friday, 5/7 – “2 Fast 2 Furious”
Friday, 5/14 – “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift”
Friday, 5/21 – “Fast & Furious”
Friday, 5/28 – “Fast Five”
Friday, 6/4 – “Fast & Furious 6”
Friday, 6/11 – “Furious 7”
Friday, 6/18 – “The Fate of the Furious”
