The Fast & the Furious franchise has seen plenty of success since the first film was released on June 22, 2001.
Starring the late Paul Walker as undercover cop Brian O’Conner and Vin Diesel as a street racing leader named Dominic Toretto, the action film evolved from its street racer roots to a saga of spies and heists, becoming the longest-running racing series, set to conclude with its 12th installment, Fast Forever, on March 17, 2028.
But nearly a year short of a decade ago, on April 14, 2017, the eighth installment, titled The Fate of the Furious, directed by F. Gary Gray, hit theaters and made history.
With Diesel reprising his role and Dwayne “The Rock “Johnson, who joined the franchise in 2011 as federal agent Luke Hobbs in the fifth film titled Fast Five, it opened worldwide with the highest-grossing weekend at the time, bringing in $532 million.
The Universal Pictures film set the record for the biggest opening of all time at the global box office, including $98.8 million from the U.S. and Canada and $433.2 million from 63 international territories, per ComingSoon.Net.
The franchise hit peak-level success, overtaking the record previously held by Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($529 million) and its predecessor, Jurassic World ($316.7 million).
Ultimately, it grossed over $1.2 billion worldwide total, setting yet another record as one of the highest-grossing films of 2017, according to Box Office Mojo. It even became one of the biggest releases in China ever at the time, becoming a huge driver at the global box office, per The Hollywood Reporter.
While there was plenty of momentum and interest in the franchise, it also marked the first film after Walker’s tragic death in a car accident in 2013, during a pause from filming Furious 7. The seventh installment had the bigger total box office opening with a worldwide gross of around $1.5 billion, boosted by the emotional impact of his death.
Walker remains a core part of the franchise legacy even after his death.
The synopsis for The Fate of the Furious reads, “With Dom and Letty married, Brian and Mia retired and the rest of the crew exonerated, the globe-trotting team has found some semblance of a normal life. They soon face an unexpected challenge when a woman named Cipher forces Dom to betray them all. They must unite to bring home the man who made them a family and stop Cipher from unleashing chaos.”
It also starred Jason Statham as Deckard, Michelle Rodriguez as Letty, Tyrese Gibson as Roman, Ludacris as Tej Parker, Charlize Theron as Cipher and Kurt Russell as Mr. Nobody.
In terms of how the film ranks compared to the others, Variety put it as number 3 on the list, with Furious 7 taking the top spot.
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