Stocks● Neutral
How the Fast & Furious franchise evolved from its 2001 start
From a $70 million opening in 2009 to space travel in 2021, the Fast & Furious saga kept reinventing itself through cast reunions, prequels and increased scale before the planned finale.
Continue with
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 20 (UPI) – The theatrical re-release of "The Fast and the Furious" 25 years after its debut underscores how far the franchise has come. What started as a modest street-racing drama has turned into a global action saga spanning 10 films, with an 11th expected to close the main series.
The original movie opened in 2001 and did well enough to earn a sequel. But that sequel, 2003's "2 Fast 2 Furious," had to proceed without Vin Diesel, who turned down a $30 million offer. Paul Walker carried the film as Brian O'Conner, and the sequel introduced Tyrese Gibson as Roman and Chris "Ludacris" Bridges as Tej. The movie also began the franchise’s habit of retconning earlier plot points: Brian's guilt over arresting Roman explains why he let Dom (Diesel) go at the end of the first film.
"2 Fast 2 Furious" was the only entry that grossed less than $100 million domestically, and it nearly ended the series. Then a prequel twist came. The fourth, fifth and sixth movies were set before the events of 2006's "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift," giving new context to Han's mentoring role.
Diesel, Walker and Michelle Rodriguez returned for 2009's "Fast & Furious," which opened to $70 million and set a series high at the time. The plot followed Brian and Dom hunting the drug dealer who killed Letty (Rodriguez). For all its generic story, it reunited the original cast and reestablished the family theme.
"Fast Five" (2011) brought together the casts of all four earlier movies and added Dwayne Johnson as Hobbs. This installment turned the franchise into an international espionage series with large-scale action. It also revealed Letty was still alive, reversing the death from "Fast & Furious."
2013's "Furious 6" balanced the bombastic scale of "Fast Five" with the ensemble cast. Scenes like Dom catching Letty after she is thrown from a tank drew mockery, but the film maintained the tone the series had adopted.