![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/The-cast-of-Fast-Five.jpg\" "\\"Sung")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
It may not be a high point for the art of cinema but why has the latest instalment of the Fast and Furious franchise<\/a> tapped into a huge global audience?<\/p>\n The first film in the series,\u00a0The Fast and the Furious<\/a> (2001), quietly worked its way to a global gross of $207m on a budget of $38m.<\/p>\n But when star Vin Diesel<\/a> and director Rob Cohen<\/a> didn’t return for the ridiculously titled 2 Fast 2 Furious<\/a> (2003) I think the perception was that the franchise was basically over.<\/p>\n After all, Diesel (then seen to be an emerging star) and Rob Cohen had gone on to make xXx<\/a> (2002) which was a significant action hit.<\/p>\n But although the second film suffered from the perception that its main star had left, Universal’s accountants would have been impressed at the $236m worldwide gross on a budget of $76m.<\/p>\n This was enough for a third film called The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift<\/a> (2006), which didn’t feature Paul Walker or Vin Diesel (even though the latter had a small cameo).<\/p>\n Despite the presence of a new director (Justin Lin<\/a>) it seemed that the series was running on fumes. But it still grossed $158m worldwide on a budget of $85m.<\/p>\n By now the franchise was that strangest of things: a successful film series without a main character or star that was still making money.<\/p>\n