Fast and Furious movies production budgets 2023

As of May 2023, the movie in "The Fast and the Furious" franchise with the highest production budget was by far "Fast X" (2023), which cost 340 million U.S. dollars to make. "Fast X" was the eleventh instalment in the series and proved itself a worthwhile investment after grossing almost 370 million U.S. dollars at box offices worldwide less than one week after its release. Even more successful was "Furious 7" (2015), which cost 190 million dollars to produce and generated box office revenue of more than 1.5 billion. "Furious 7" is the highest grossing movie in the franchise so far and also had the strongest opening weekend.

"The Fast and the Furious" lost one of its cast members in 2013 after the tragic death of Paul Walker, which deeply impacted the final production of "Furious 7" and future films in the franchise.

"The Fast and the Furious": remembering Paul Walker

The action movie series first hit cinema screens in 2001 with the release of "The Fast and the Furious" (2001), starring the late Paul Walker as Brian O'Conner and Vin Diesel (real name Mark Sinclair) as Dominic Toretto. Walker’s final appearance in the franchise is in "Furious 7", though the actor unfortunately died in a road accident during filming. The movie's script was rewritten as a result. Director James Wan has spoken publicly about his wish to honor Walker's legacy and was keen to ensure that Walker's character left the franchise in a manner that respected his previous work in the series and felt natural (if emotional) to fans.

Very special effects

The "Furious 7" filmmakers utilized the services of award-winning digital visual effects company Weta Digital (well-known for their creation of the character Gollum in "The Lord of the Rings") to create a digital likeness of Paul Walker for the purposes of finishing the movie successfully. With help from Walker's two brothers, both of whom are similar in appearance to their late brother, Weta was able to fashion digital models of Walker's face. They then combined this with actual footage of the actor to form a likeness to superimpose over other actors' bodies.

Aside from "The Fast and the Furious" movies, Paul Walker also starred in 2001 horror movie "Joy Ride" (also known as "Roadkill" outside the U.S.), the 2008 thriller "The Lazarus Project", and "Eight Below" (2006), a survival drama movie based on 1983 Japanese production "Antarctica".