For a franchise keep growing as it
enters its second decade and sixth installment is nearly unheard of in
Hollywood, where sequels tend to burn hot and fast, dying out quickly.
Yet Universal Studios has adroitly managed the car racing series by
tapping into international markets, catering to under-appreciated
moviegoing audiences and recognizing the power of Diesel fuel -- Vin
Diesel that is.
Here are six takeaways from the
"Fast & the Furious" franchise's success for rival studios trying to
engineer their own box office Maserati's.
Vin Diesel Is an A-Lister, Get Used to It
He may not wield the clout or
boast the magazine covers of a Depp or a Pitt or a Smith, but make no
mistake, Diesel is a star. After getting lost on the C-list in the
mid-aughts and seeing his once white-hot career fizzle out with bombs
like "Find Me Guilty" or artistic embarrassments like "The Pacifier,"
Diesel cannily returned to the franchise that made him a powerhouse with
2009's "Fast & Furious."
In the process, he helped the
series consistently build its audience with each new film, allowing the
franchise to gross nearly $1.6 billion globally. With this September's
"Riddick," Diesel will see if he can revive another of his action
franchises that has run out of steam. If he can pull it off, that will
give him two massive tentpole roles in his quiver. Few actors other than
Robert Downey Jr. with "Sherlock Holmes" and "Iron Man" can match that
kind of track record.
The U.S. Is Nice, But Foreign Countries Are King
Though "The Fast & The
Furious" started out as a depiction of L.A. street racing, few
franchises have done a better job of embracing the global marketplace.
Starting with 2006's "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift," the third
film in the franchise, the series has traipsed around the globe,
conveniently stopping in many of the movie business' most important
emerging markets. Along the way, the crew of car racers and thieves have
evaded the law in exotic settings like Brazil, Mexico and, in the
latest iteration, Spain and the United Kingdom.
With 70 percent of box office
revenue coming from abroad, an international flavor is no an longer
exotic icing on any big-budget confection. It's an essential ingredient
to making the sprawling community of moviegoers feel like they are
watching their dreams and lives reflected back to them on the big
screen.
The reward for this cosmopolitanism? "Fast & Furious 6" is off to
a white-hot start at the foreign box office; its opening in the U.K.
and Ireland last Friday gave Universal the studio's biggest opening day
ever in that market with $4.6 million. "Fast Five," the previous film in
the franchise, more than doubled the largest foreign gross in the
franchise's history and most box office analysts predict the latest
adventure will eclipse the last film's $416 million international take.Newsflash! Latinos Go to Movies
Latino audiences have pushed "The
Fast & The Furious" series into rarified blockbuster terrain.
Thanks to stars like Michelle Rodriguez, and a healthy amount of Spanish
dialog, the films have gone out of their way to court this too often
neglected demographic.
Pay heed studios! Latinos
represent just 17 percent of the U.S. population, yet account for 26
percent of ticket sales, according a study by the Motion Picture
Association of America. In the case of "Fast Five," catering to this
crowd resulted in a monster turnout, with Latinos representing 33
percent of its opening weekend U.S. audience.
...Oh, And So Do Women
Casting women as more than
scantily clad helpmates and arm candy has further broadened "The Fast
& The Furious" franchise's appeal.
Women represent 51 percent of the
U.S. population and 52 percent of the moviegoing public, but according
to a 2012 study by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and
Film at San Diego State University, only 11 percent of the protagonists
in top grossing films are female.
Yes, Vin Diesel and Paul Walker
are the top-billed stars in the series, but what's refreshing about
"Fast & Furious 6" is that Rodriguez and co-star Gina Carano have
roles that are integral to the action. In fact, Jeffrey Kirschenbaum,
Universal Pictures co-president of production, told TheWrap that the most recent "Fast" film is the highest testing among women.
He added that the on-screen throw
down between Rodriguez and Carano is a key selling point of the film and
"trumps" the fight between Diesel and Dwayne Johnson that was a heavily
promoted part of "Fast Five."
Don't Idle at the Starting Line
Beginning with the fourth film in
the series, 2009's "The Fast & the Furious," Universal has rigidly
adhered to a release schedule of one "Fast" picture every two years. The
studio is accelerating the schedule with "Fast & the Furious 7,"
which will roar into theaters in 2014, roughly a year after the sixth
film was unleashed on the summer box office.
At CinemaCon, the annual
exhibition trade show in Las Vegas, Diesel told theater owners that the
studio was able to rush into production on a follow-up to "Fast &
the Furious 6" because they had carefully mapped out a direction for the
series. In a digitally connected age where platforms like Twitter and
Facebook have intensified the rate at which entertainment and media is
anticipated, consumed and discussed, it is critical that studios move
nimbly to exploit buzz before this morning's hot thing become that
afternoon's tired idea.
Allow a Director to Grow With a Franchise
Justin Lin didn't have the kind of
CV that would instantly make a studio feel comfortable about handing
over the keys to one of its crown jewel franchises.
When Universal tapped the UCLA
grad to inject new life into the "Fast" series, Lin was best known for
the Sundance breakout "Better Luck Tomorrow" and the James Franco bomb
"Annapolis." But whatever studio executives saw Taiwanese-born director
has allowed the series to reach new heights.
Under Lin, the four "Fast" films
he has directed have grown more global in scope, more financially
successful, more technically audacious and more critically acclaimed.
The decision to move up production on "Fast & the Furious 7," so it
can open next year, means that he will have to yield the director's
chair to James Wan ("Saw"), but studio executives and producers tell
TheWrap that after the success of the "Fast" movies, Lin can write his
own ticket.
"He's on the A-list," a rival
studio executive enthused. "If he wants to do a Bond film, he can. If he
wants to do a Chris Nolan-type 'Inception' movie or a smaller personal
movie, he can. Everyone wants to work with him."
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