Why Did Fate of the Furious Beat Star Wars at the Box Office?
The Fast and Furious film franchise is one of the most bizarre moneymaking machines to occur in recent film history. Starting as a series of lowbrow, car exploitation films in the early 2000’s, it has morphed and evolved into one of the biggest juggernauts in today’s franchise-dominated cinematic landscape.
Most recently, Fate of the Furious aka F8 out-grossed Star Wars: The Force Awakens, raking in a truly outstanding 532.5 million dollars on opening weekend alone. Episode 7, way back in 2015 didn’t do too shabby either when it managed to make the obscene 529 million back in 2015. Now, yes, that’s a lot of money, but remember that figure is for the worldwide haul. Domestically, F8 made 100.2 million aka a metric ton dump truck load of money.
So why did Fast and Furious out gross the Star Wars latest installment in its franchise? It might have something to do with the fact that the franchise has effectively cornered the market on a few demographics which are chronically under-served in cinema. A racially and culturally diverse set of characters, they bring in large portions of Latino and African American audiences. Besides being a “fast car movie” seeing macho protagonists up against impossible odds is something that’s not really being made right now. Consider the Bourne movies, Die Hard, and heck, even the Steven Seagal flicks of the 80s and 90s. Nevertheless, lots people (especially guy’s guys) like the straightforward entertainment value of seeing their protagonists triumph when they’re up against impossible odds. But heck, that’s not really too unlike any of the Star Wars movies now is it?
It’s true, the Star Wars franchise with its 40 year history appeals to a wider array of audiences. There are the original Star Wars fans who saw the original films when they came out in the theaters. Then, there’s the younger generations for whom the most recent films serve as a kind of portal into the Star Wars of yore. Lastly, lest we forget, are millions of devoted fans, geeks, sci-fi freaks, and Star Wars experts and aficionados. With an range of 18-44, they skew largely male and predominantly white. Nevertheless, Star Wars is a cultural institution period. It’s recognized worldwide and takes up residence in so many of our imaginations. It’s precisely for this reason that so many of us are slightly aghast as seeing The Force Awakens unseated. The massive scale of foresight, planning, and creative collaboration that goes into every single Star Wars film (even the less-great ones) has been surpassed by predictable entertainment. Fast moviegoers know just what they’re getting and they don’t seem to have a problem with that. Produced with a near scientific accuracy, even with the new directors of the last two films don’t dare violate the tenants of the franchise.
Perhaps the fact that the two highest-grossing opening weekend hauls are both sequels that are above five has got to say something about the cultural climate. But what? Do people want more of the same, just slightly different. Does such an appetite say something about the world we’re living now? Are people craving stability, security, nostalgia or is such a quandary just making something out of nothing?
Undoubtedly, Fate of the Furious will be unseated any day now. Will another film franchise sequel be the one to blow it out of the water? Probably. Star Wars Episode 34? Spider-man 42? Superman17? The studios are looking to meet the demand but it’s the viewers and critics responsibilities (in that order) to demand good storytelling and characters we can actually get involved with.
So do devoted moviegoers to both Fast and Star Wars feel the two franchises are on-par or of the same caliber? It’s doubtful. And there’s nothing wrong with wanting popcorn-munching high-adrenaline action. Doing so doesn’t preclude one from loving Star Wars right alongside art house flicks, the latest documentaries, and foreign cinema.
And then there’s the fact that while Fate of the Furious was released in spring, the last Star Wars flick came out in December and didn’t open worldwide on the same day. The fact that it’s a cultural institution can be a double-edge sword with some hardcore fans leaving the fold as the aura of Lucas losses just a bit of its magic.