Will ‘Fast & Furious 9’ Be on HBO Max?

The Fast & Furious 9 trailer debuted yesterday, getting everyone excited for the new vroom-vroom boom-boom action flick starring Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, John Cena, Charlize Theron, and more.

F9, as it is officially known, is set to open in theaters in the U.S. on June 25. As more and more people get vaccinated, many movie lovers are hoping to make this ninth Fast and Furious film their first film in theaters after over a year of staying home and watching movies on streaming.

However, with COVID-19 case numbers staying stubbornly high in some states, and with the rise of a number of alarming variants, other folks are looking for ways to watch F9 at home. You may be thinking: Hey, Godzilla Vs. Kong was a big blockbuster action movie, and I watched Godzilla Vs. Kong on HBO Max! Does that mean F9 will be on HBO Max? Will Fast & Furious 9 be on HBO Max? What’s the deal?

Here’s what we know.

Will Fast 9 be on HBO Max?

No. Or, at least, not right away, in the way that Godzilla Vs. Kong was on HBO Max and in theaters at the same time. F9 will not be on HBO Max while it is in theaters, because F9 is a Universal film, not a Warner Bros film. HBO Max is owned by Warner Media, which means that it is the natural streaming home for all things Warner Bros—like, for example, Godzilla Vs. Kong.

When will Fast and Furious 9 be on streaming? When will F9 be on-demand?

We don’t know yet. Fast & Furious 9 is a Universal movie, and Universal Studios has a deal with AMC that allows the studio to release its movies on-demand—usually on premium-on-demand, meaning you’ll be able to rent the film for $19.99—after just a 17-day run in theaters.

However, it’s unlikely that Fast & Furious 9 will move to PVOD after just 17 days, given that it’s such a huge film. Sources close to the situation have told Decider that because the 17-day window is flexible, Universal plans to let F9 run in theaters exclusively for longer than just 17 days. However, an official digital release date for F9 has not yet been announced. The studio will likely make that decision based on how well the movie is doing in the box office. With vaccines rolling out, but also with variants of the COVID-19 virus on the rise, it’s still too early to say how comfortable moviegoers will feel heading to the theaters in June.

Given all of that, there’s a good chance Fast & Furious 9: F9: Fast 9: Furious 9: 9 Fast 9 Furious could be available to rent at home before the Summer is over, but as for free on streaming? Read on. It’s complicated.

Is F9 going to be on HBO Max ever?

Actually, maybe! Currently, Universal has a deal that allows its films to move to HBO nine months after its theatrical release—so, in the case of F9, that would be March, 2022. That deal is set to expire at the end of 2021. However, according to a report from Bloomberg, executives are considering licensing Universal films to HBO Max or Netflix.

F9 will also eventually come to Peacock, but it may go to HBO first. Back in 2020, when the NBC/Universal streaming platform Peacock launched, then-NBCUniversal Chairman Steve Burke said, “We are looking to take back – we are taking back the FX window, so Peacock will have every single movie ever made by Universal. They just won’t have them in that three-month period [while they are on HBO] and we don’t think that’s a problem. It’s never been a problem for the broadcasters.”