On the road to 2023’s new movie releases, Fast X is a pitstop that fans are already eager to experience, despite its May release date. You’d think with everything we know about the next Fast sequel, there wouldn’t be room for many surprises. As it turns out, that’s a great big lie, as a new report claims that an insane amount of money is being spent on the penultimate adventure of Dominic Toretto and his family.
How much qualifies as insane, in a world where movies such as this summer tentpole are already expected to shell out the big bucks? Well, how does $340 million sound to you? According to The Wrap, that’s the price tag supposedly going into Fast X’s round of vehicular mayhem.
Everything you’d expect has been cited for this rather substantial spending, from the cast’s pay to COVID safety, with a little bit of inflation sprinkled into the deal. Strangely enough, fuel and explosions aren’t mentioned, but those factors have always tended to be pricey to begin with.
There is one potential upside to that price tag though. Since it's presumed that Fast X and its sequel are a back-to-back, or at least relatively close affair, part of that production cost could factor into making the final chapter. Should that be the case, the numbers presented above wouldn't seem so horrific.
For comparison, last summer’s F9 apparently clocked in at a more modest $200 million, which does make Fast X’s budget look rather bulky. Though historically, director Louis Leterrier’s entry looks like it’s in fourth place for the most expensive movies ever made.
From least to greatest, Vin Diesel and his crew are still beaten by Avengers: Endgame, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and the still reigning champ Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides; with the all-time high being set at $379 million. And that amount is unadjusted for inflation.
All of this talk naturally leads to some natural concerns over whether or not Fast X is going to be as financially successful as some of its predecessors. That’s even more of a talking point after F9, which broke the streak of Fast movies breaking the $1 billion barrier. Admittedly, the film was released as movie theaters were coming back from COVID-19 closures. Even in those circumstances, the Fast Saga hit some pretty impressive milestones when all was said and done.
If anything should keep the brass behind Fast X hopeful, it’s that audiences have still shown that a well established franchise can bring the action back to theaters. This past summer saw Universal scoring a massive hit out of Jurassic World Dominion, as well as rivals like Paramount blasting off to success with the ever impressive Top Gun: Maverick.
With a track record that’s been more consistently active than those properties, it could be assumed that the Vin Diesel fronted ensemble franchise will find a place at the table of box office victors in the year to come. Of course, nothing is a sure bet in the world of movies. And this supposedly huge price tag, if accurate, will raise the bar for that success to a pretty towering level.
Everyone will be able to rev their engines and enjoy Fast X, only in theaters, on May 19, 2023. That’s still a bit of a wait, so we wouldn’t blame you if you’d want to use the time available to brush up on the ever expanding Fast Saga timeline. At the very least, an HBO Max subscription will give you the chance to enjoy F9; while the rest of the series is split between this same platform and Peacock Premium.
