As the Coronavirus crisis eases its grip across the world, Hollywood is making merry, and how! With major releases raking moolah at the box office and many big films going in production, it looks like things are finally headed in the right direction for the entertainment business.

Over its opening weekend, Fast & Furious 9 tallied $70 million in box-office receipts, the highest figure for a film that released in the midst of the pandemic. The previous record holder was A Quiet Place Part II, which opened in May with just under $50 million in ticket sales, reports CNBC.

According to Deadline, A Quiet Place Part II is closing in on $250 million worldwide and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It crossed $100 million at the international box office. Other releases that have hit the bullseye include The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard and Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway.

In the next few weeks, a number of blockbuster features are lined up, such as Black Widow, Jungle Cruise, Space Jam: A New Legacy and Snake Eyes. This would be followed by Dune, Free Guy, Eternals, The Green Knight, The Suicide Squad, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Spider-Man: No Way Home and No Time To Die.

Not just releases, even film productions are going into overdrive. Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — the highly anticipated sequel to the blockbuster Black Panther (2018) — has started production in Atlanta, reports Variety.

The original cast of the film is set to reunite sans Chadwick Boseman, who died in August last year after a four-year battle with colon cancer. The film is slated to release in July next year.

Filmmaker James Wan shared a picture of a clap board placed in an icy cavern and wrote, “Day One. #aquaman2”, signalling the commencement of the shoot of Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom. The Jason Momoa-led film will hit cinemas in December 2022.

Filmmaker Rian Johnson also took to social media to announce the production of Knives Out 2. Actor Daniel Craig will reprise his role as the clever private investigator Benoit Blanc, alongside a new cast that includes Dave Bautista and Edward Norton, among others.

The fourth instalment of the John Wick franchise is also in the works. The Chad Stahelski directorial, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Rina Sawayama and Shamier Anderson, is scheduled to release in May next year.