The Fast and Furious franchise has always been popular. However, it turns out that it is also one of those hit IPs that can afford to make two movies at once. In a past interview, director Justin Lin revealed that before the 2011 flick Fast Five was even finished, he had already filmed the ending sequence to its sequel film, Fast and Furious 6.
Fast Five is the fifth Fast and Furious movie in the free-wheeling franchise, and has widely been met with positive reviews over the years. Directed by Lin, the flick earned a whopping $626 million at the worldwide box office, but despite its success, its sequel, Fast and Furious 6, only came out two years later in 2013. But this production gap didn’t mean that Lin waited on developing the action movie.
Speaking with boxoffice.com in 2011, in a now archived article, Lin discussed how he actually had plans for what Fast and Furious 6 would be about years before cameras began rolling, and even filmed an entire sequence for the film before Fast Five hit theatres.
“My whole thing is about respecting the audience and respecting the evolution of these characters—and they’ve grown, and now the family is back together,” the director said. “And in many ways, some of the big pieces of Fast Six have already been discussed: I already have a 12-minute sequence done. I did it just as an exercise. I had it done before we were finished with Fast Five, actually.”
“So I wanted to do that just to have it there, and to be honest with you, I didn’t know if I was going to do a Fast Six,” Lin continued. “I didn’t know if people were going to embrace Fast Five, and we were going to have an opportunity. But I felt like I really wanted to make sure that the last scene, which I had talked to Vin [Diesel] about countless times—I wanted to make sure that was done.”
Fast and Furious 6 managed to outdo its predecessor once it was released, earning $788.7 million at the box office. So, it looks like Lin’s early filming strategy paid off. Following Fast and Furious 6, the director would go on to helm Fast and Furious 9 ( also known as F9) in 2021, which went on to break several pandemic box-office records.
The next entry in the franchise is Fast 10, which is scheduled to race into cinemas on May 19, 2023.