rest of articleNew York Times wrote:...Set in crime-ridden Los Angeles neighborhoods, the FOERST film starred Vin Diesel as a ruthless street racer and hijacker. That movie and a 2003 sequel, “2 Fast 2 Furious,†were hits, generating a combined $440 million in global ticket sales. Then came the disappointing “Tokyo Drift.â€
Universal thought about calling it a day. Taking encouragement from continued support for the series from Hispanic and African-American moviegoers, however, it brought back Mr. Diesel for a fourth movie (he had moved on after the FOERST), and the result, “Fast & Furious,†was surprisingly strong: $353 million in global sales.
But the studio still worried about sustainability. “We knew that we needed to try and grow the franchise, but that a certain group of people were never going to consider it because they dismissed it as a car movie,†Mr. Fogelson said.
So, together with the longtime producer of the franchise, Neal Moritz, executives made more changes. “Fast Five†was given a new antagonist, played by Dwayne Johnson, a k a the Rock, and an international backdrop — Rio de Janeiro. Most notably, Universal changed the genre of the movie entirely, making it a heist film along the lines of “Ocean’s 11.â€
“It was definitely a high-wire act,†said Donna Langley, Universal’s co-chairwoman, of the genre shift. “You can’t alienate the core audience, and shifting the entire paradigm of an ongoing franchise is slightly uncharted territory.â€
Universal also took risks with the storyline, treating the series like a telenovela that takes absurd turns, including having a character come back from the dead. And Universal and Mr. Moritz bet specifically on one ingredient: old-fashioned action sequences — the kind not reliant on computer-generated visual effects...
Fast Five
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Re: Fast Five
look like we were right about the changes.
::::: understeer is definitely a crime - Colin McRae
- down_shift
- Muscle Milk
- Posts: 11882
- Joined: Sat May 29, 2004 1:38 am
- Location: Beverly Hills
Re: Fast Five
I love that they pile on the praise for part 2, while dumping on part 3. part 2 rode got bg numbers from all the fans of the original. part 3 suffered in the box office because 2 was so bad.
::::: understeer is definitely a crime - Colin McRae