TheFast & Furiousfranchise struggled to find its footing early on, but the least successful sequel actually offered an opportunity for the series to grow. Starting in 2001,The Fast and the Furiousbegan as a crime thriller with exciting street racing action. The Vin Diesel and Paul Walker vehicle proved successful, thus a franchise was born.
Over the next 20 years, the series would rise and fall in quality, with a huge ensemble cast returning to form Dom Toretto’s extended “family”. What began as a simple-but-effective action film slowly began to morph into something more, and street racing gave way to international espionage and even space travel.
With things getting increasingly goofy over the years, the early films are actually quite quaint by comparison. While there’s no denying thattheFast & Furiousfranchisehas done well, there were several opportunities for it to grow and change in a positive way. One early sequel was a box office disappointment, but has only gotten better over time.
Tokyo Drift Has Everything A Fast & Furious Movie Should
The Threequel Is Quintessential Fast & Furious
Though it was maligned at the time,The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Driftis a perfect example of the franchise’s potential. It has more car action than its predecessors, and the change of location continued the trend set by2 Fast2 Furious. The character dynamics are weak, but the first two films weren’t Oscar-caliber stories either.
Tokyo Drifthad oodles of car culture, and an especially international flair.
It showed thatFast & Furiousdidn’t need Paul Walker and Vin Diesel, andopened the door for a plethora of global possibilities. There was a crime element, butthe car scenesare what made the original trilogy ofFast & Furiousso beloved.Tokyo Drifthad oodles of car culture, and an especially international flair.
The Lowest Grossing Movie In The Franchise Is Tokyo Drift
It Wasn’t The Reviews That Tanked Tokyo Drift
Reviews forTokyo Driftwere bad, but that’s not what sank the threequel. As is often the case with Hollywood movies,the film’s box office performance dictated how the studio approached future sequels.Box Office Mojonotes that the movie earned a respectable $158 million (about $270 million with inflation), but that was way down from the first two installments.
In fact,Tokyo Driftis thelowest-grossing movie in the franchise, and box office numbers would steadily climb in subsequent sequels. It’s not hard to see why, since a franchise is often anchored by its biggest stars.No Walker or Diesel meant that audiences just weren’t interested, even if the threequel had a lot more to offer than its predecessor.
The Fast and the Furious
2001
55%
$207 million
2003
37%
$236 million
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
2006
38%
$158 million
Tokyo Drift Has Become More Important With Later Sequels
The Threequel Is Secretly The Most Important F&F Movie
While the franchise initially just ignoredTokyo Driftentirely, the threequel has slowly become more important since its release. Not only did the character of Han return to be part of Dom’s “family” on numerous occasions, butit also serves as an important timeline marker for the franchise’s somewhat muddled chronology.
It might not have gotten the respect it deserves, and theFast & Furiousmovies will never go back to simple street racing again, butTokyo Drifthas earned a cult following nearly 20 years later. Had the fourth movie been more likeTokyo Drift, there’s no telling where the series would have gone.
