New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Ryan Kyle: I couldn't reiterate what Edwin said better. This series hasn't hit its ceiling even seven installments in. The grosses just keep getting bigger for this much-loved franchise and there was no reason the ever-expanding audience would have dwindled for this seven-quel. Walker's death and the conclusive fact that this will be his character's last spin simply put things into overdrive. Also, as Captain America proved last summer, an April 1st opening can be just as effective as a May 1st debut. Not only is the field clearer, but the film was able to nab an extraordinary number of IMAX screens and keep them for an entire month, which helps bulk up the gross. Already out-grossing every other film in the franchise and with a great hold this weekend, a $400 million finish line total isn't out of the question, which would be astounding.

Kim Hollis: Along with the reasons mentioned above, I think that the Fast and Furious franchise has done a remarkable job of adding interesting talent to the mix as the series has moved along. The Rock was a huge addition previously, and now they’ve added Jason Statham as the villain (and a great one at that). Their demographic appeal is only broadening, and with top-notch reviews, people have a reason to get out and see it in theaters rather than putting it off for video. This one really had the feel of an event.

Kim Hollis: What surprises you the most about the expansion of Furious 7 from previous franchise titles?

Edwin Davies: The biggest surprise to me is the way that the series recovered after Tokyo Drift. That was a case where a third film in a franchise earned less than half of either of its predecessors, had lost both of its main stars (barring a Vin Diesel cameo) and seemed like it had run out of gas. Then, Vin Diesel's outside of the Fast and Furious series career stalled, he came back along with most everyone else, and since then it's been unstoppable. We've seen some series bounce back after slightly underwhelming installments before, but I can't think of a series that fell so low, then came back to such dizzying heights without rebooting the entire thing a la Star Trek.

Ryan Kyle: The Fast and The Furious franchise is a very odd beast. To me, the fourth film is truly the sequel to the first. 2 Fast 2 Furious is pretty much a film that just so happened to star Paul Walker and had fast cars so they slapped the Fast name on it to help grosses after the shock success of the original. Tokyo Drift is a pretty decent spin-off that never really found its audience until it hit secondary markets after the terrible taste 2 Fast 2 Furious left. When the original cast was reunited for the fourth after a prolonged enough lapse, audiences ate it up, feeling as if they finally got the sequel they've been asking for. It was a risk for Universal to greenlight such an expensive project, but the reward has been a multi-hundred million dollar printing press. The franchise had a metamorphic transformation into a heist series. The fifth, sixth, and seventh sequel successfully upped the ante while moving forward the plot, not repeating it. An eighth film is a forgone conclusion, and with the way Furious 7 ended, the franchise seems to be in a good place to continue without Walker in it.

Kim Hollis: I think the explosion for Fast 7 – even with all of the factors we discussed – is shocking. To increase from a $97 million opening for the previous film to almost $150 million – and on Easter weekend, no less – was impossible for me to imagine. I expected some inflation and excitement, but the real number went well beyond what I believed could happen. It is absolutely stunning that this film already has $800 million internationally and is going to be somewhere close to the top of the worldwide box office list by the end of its run.

Continued:       1       2