17 Crazy Facts You Just Have To Accept To Enjoy The Fast & Furious Franchise

6. Fast Five Is Basically A Reboot

The change in tone is significant enough in Fast Five that it practically felt like a franchise reboot. Sorry, petrolheads, but after Universal realised that focusing the movies on car culture placed a ceiling on their audience base, they decided to reconfigure the series as a broader heist thriller series with cars still taking front and center, albeit with guns also having a greater prevalence. Just as significant as this was the decision to make the action more outlandish and less-grounded in reality, and together, these creative choices contributed to a hefty $626 million for Fast Five, almost doubling the gross of any prior entry into the series. It wasn't a one-off, either, as Fast and Furious 6 fared even better, raking in $788 million, and especially with the Paul Walker curiosity, 7 is unlikely to do much worse. When trying to get new audiences into the franchise, it's often best just to start with Fast Five, because it's the best one in the series, with number six at a close second.