Vin Diesel and his Fast Family have reason to celebrate as theFast and Furiousfranchise has crossed a massive financial milestone. Thanks to the strong early returns fromFast & Furious 9at the international box office, Universal Pictures' action-heavy, car-centric series has crossed the $6 billion mark at the box office. This makes it not only one of the most successful franchises of the modern era, but one of the most successful franchises of all time. And arguably the most unlikely success story of its kind.
F9, the ninth entry in theFast and Furious franchise, has earned $163 million in its international debut, including a massive $137 million in China alone. With that, theFast and Furiousmovies have earned $6.056 billion overall. The franchise kicked off with 2001’s The Fast and the Furious and now includes ten entries overall. The nine main entries in the series, as well as the 2019 spin-off Hobbs & Shaw, which starred Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Jason Statham.
The Fast and the Furious, directed by Rob Cohen, was a relatively simple, comparatively speaking, street racing movie with a crime/heist element at its center. Vin Diesel and Paul Walker led the cast as Dominic Torreto, a street racing criminal, and Brian O’Connor, an undercover cop, respectively. The movie was quite successful, taking in $206.4 million at thebox office. The stage was set for a series of sequels.
Tokyo Drift, the third entry in the series, represented a low point, taking in just $157.7 million worldwide. But director Justin Lin then hatched a plan to steer the series in a new direction. With 2009’sFast & Furious, they started to shift gears, turning the franchise into an action-first, team-based franchise. That concept hit its nexus withFast Five, which brought The Rock into the fold asLuke Hobbs. Taking in a staggering $630.1 million at the box office, it paved the way for the series to become a multi-billion-dollar behemoth.
Ensuing sequels began pushing the envelope on screen to increasingly bombastic heights, and audiences turned up in droves to see whatDom’s crewwould get up to next.Fast and Furious 6took in $789.3 million. ButFurious 7marked yet another huge turning point. Paul Walker passed away during production, which largely marked the end for Brian O’Connor. Director James Wan managed to give him a huge, emotional send-off and it paid off to the tune of $1.51 billion worldwide.Furious 7remains not just the highest-grossing entry in this franchise, but one of the biggest movies in history. The Fate of the Furious ($1.23 billion) continued the hot streak.
Hobbs & Shaw($760.3 million) proved that spin-offs beyond the main series were possible. Universal is said to be developing a sequel, as well as a female-led spin-off. At the same time,Fast and Furious 10, which is going to be a two-parter, will conclude the main series. All of this to say, $6 billion is impressive but Dom and the gang still have a lot of gas left in the tank. F9 hits theaters in the U.S. on June 25. This news comes to us viaThe Numbers.
