Someone needs to tell The Fast And The Furious franchise about the rules of the diminishing returns of sequels - bar a third outing blip, each movie has improved on the box office of the last. A shift from vehicle ogling to ridiculously envisioned heists is of course the reason, with the series fully embracing its silliness to an almost self-aware level. Furious 7 continues the story of the previous two films, seeing the gang taking on Jason Statham, brother of Fast 6's Luke Evans, but the real draw is obviously the bonkers car stunts, which the trailer promised in droves, showing the most thrilling cliff-hanging bus moment since The Italian Job. Fast 6 made an impressive $788.7 million (by comparison, the first film made only $207.3 million). However, while the seventh will undoubtably match that, don't expect it to exceed it too much - the film has expanded its fan-base to the outer limits and, with the series a consistent topper of illegal download lists, odds are it won't bring in many more new viewers. There's an argument to be made that the death of Paul Walker may lead to a boosted appeal, but time and again a "final role" has been proven to be white noise to an audience. Aside from Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (and given the overall quality of the film and performance the impact of his death is questionable), there's never been a movie bolstered by a lead actor passing away before completion.
