50 Fast and Furious days

And we have crossed fifty days. Critically panned (banned!?) car racing flick Fast and Furious is well on its way to crossing the finish line anytime soon. The total collections on the 50th day stand at $345 million worldwide. Breaking it up that would be a total of US gross $153,524,010 and international gross $192,231,401. You may have to give or take a couple of millions from that, as box office numbers aren't so much reliable to the penny.

Anyway, it beats the other three movies which came before it and that too by a huge margin. If that doesn't prompt the makers to come back with the same cast in a sequel, what else does? :)

Fast and Furious reigns in opening weekend

Raking in a total of $72 million in its opening weekend, the fourth film in the street racing tetralogy has silenced critics and has established that there is still life in action flicks. This is by far the best opening weekend collections posted in 2009, beating the the $59 million haul of Monsters Vs Aliens.

A pack of records came down along with that. Pixar's Cars had maintained the best car-movie opening weekend record since 2006. With a $12 million edge over Cars' opening weekend bounty, Fast and Furious will be in the throne from now and if it is able to sustain the excitement among the movie-going crowd, then we could very well be looking at one of the top grossers of 2009.

If you ask me, FF4 will keep the US box office bells ringing till the collections reach $150 million or may be more. As for the rest of the world collections, the fate is yet to be decided. $30 million is in the cash bag from the rest of the world centres. Not too bad for a movie without superstars. The next couple of weeks will be revealing whether the Diesel-Walker vehicle is one meant for a quarter mile drag race or an around the world endurance run.

Fast and Furious : Comes late, kicks butt!

Fast and Furious blasted off to a massive start at the US box office with box office collections of $30 million on its opening day.

The movie surpassed the opening day collections of all its predecessors by a huge margin. To add to its credit, the opening day collections are higher than opening weekend collections of its immediate forerunner, The Fast and the Furious : Tokyo Drift.

By the looks of it, Fast and Furious will prove to be just what Hollywood needs right now - a blockbuster which will revive the box office. The opening weekend collections are expected to cross $ 65 million by sunday. If it manages that feat, then FF4 will be a feather on the entire team's caps. The result will launch it to the top of the opening weekend toppers of car-racing genre beating Pixar's animated film, Cars ($60 million). It will also settle down as the top opening weekend grosser for Vin Diesel and Paul Walker.

On a personal note, FF4 ROCKS!!!

Fast and Furious : crash and burn

Too uninspiring a title for what will possibly be the final chapter of the street racing series. Couldn’t they have been a bit more creative with the title? “Fast and Furious” is so lame to begin with. “The Fast and the Furious” had the punch of a new series launcher. “2 Fast 2 Furious“ shouted out the fact that it’s the second movie in the franchise. As for “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift”, the change of location and race style decided the name. The latest installment, “Fast and Furious” sounds so…dead. How does “4 the fast and the furious” sound? (Just a thought)

After the smash hit first chapter, Paul Walker moved on to the second chapter sans the rest of the actors. So out goes the big star Vin Diesel, resident hotties Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster. In comes Tyrese Gibson and Eva Mendes. The selection wasn’t that wrong and the movie made a table profit at the box-office just like its predecessor. But the series wasn’t three times lucky. The third movie was a flop. Thanks to a lifeless cast lead by Lucas Black. The change of scene wasn’t welcomed by the fans though the chase and race sequences were much appreciated.

So what does FF4 has in store for the loyalists of the franchise? For starters, there is the original cast. All of them make a return to their driver seats. We’ll miss Eva Mendes. But Michelle and Jordana will be making up for that loss. The trailers promise a good number of action sequences – CGI and non-CGI. The best of the reasons to watch it is the wide array of machines in action. Brand new Nissan GTRs, Chevrolet Camaros, Ford GT40s and the always popular Japanese cars. Not to mention the heavily modified muscle cars which always manage to get the car guys drooling for more. The usual ingredients of these movies – cars and ladies – have been prepped up to the max. A fitting way to conclude the series.

And don’t bother about the plot. For this franchise, the storyline is just a reason to stick together the car chases and the stunts. Dominic (Vin Diesel) and Brian (Paul Walker) put their rivalry at bay in order to take care of a common nemesis. To bring the baddie down, both of them should hit the fastlane and make and break all rules they and the system have set. That sounds reasonable a story for this genre.

FF4 may turn out to be a surprise hit of 2009. Duly noted that all the stars are not in their best career phases. Vin Diesel had a couple of flops, of late. Paul Walker’s career is a so-so. The industry in itself is treading a weak line. What's in favour of FF4 is the absence of major releases in the month of April and the movie doesn't offer any false promises. It's a senseless car chase flick with a tried and tested cast. So it may work its magic.