Film culture and habits have curiously moved to a point where the most popular and profitable movies are the ones that are pieces of giant, sprawling franchises. There was a time where making a billion dollars at the box office seemed practically impossible, but it’s now becoming the benchmark for the culmination of film series. Long-running film series like Star Wars or the Marvel Cinematic Universe have rich properties to fall back on. They have extended legacies that go far beyond their films.
However, one film series that has also reached unbelievable heights, but doesn’t have the luxury of a built-in audience or legacy to fall back on, are the Fast and the Furious films. These are simple movies about fast cars, yet these movies have turned into a franchise of nearly ten films that have set new records and become major pop culture events.