December 2016 has been a full-blown month packed with trailers so far. This includes the highly-anticipated first preview for The Fate of the Furious, which rolled out on the internet this past Sunday night. The over-three-minute trailer was crammed with plenty of high-octane action, but more importantly, it laid out how the eight installment in the Fast & Furious franchise could be the most shocking entry yet. We're still four months away from seeing how the final product turns out, but this trailer has already made a name for itself by being the biggest trailer debut ever.
According to Deadline, The Fate of the Furious' first trailer collected approximately 139 million views in its first 24 hours, knocking Beauty and the Beast off from the #1 spot. On YouTube and Facebook alone, there are 38.8 million views in the United States and over 49.5 million views globally. Social media also played a important role with The Fate of the Furious breaking this impressive record, as 32 million of those views came from "talent social accounting." Considering how many followers Vin Diesel and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson have on their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages, snagging a significant view count from social media was guaranteed.
It looks like Universal's hard work promoting The Fate of the Furious trailer paid off. On Sunday, the studio debuted the trailer in Times Square to a massive crows, with Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Tyrese Gibson, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Michelle Rodriguez, Nathalie Emmanuel and director F. Gary Gray all in attendance. This rollout included screening the preview on 33 digital billboards in the Manhattan area (including the Big Kahuna billboard) at the same time as it was shown on TV and online. Even though these trailer rankings are always changing, unless another blockbuster rolls out something incredibly big in the coming weeks (like a Star Wars: Episode VIII teaser, for example), there's a strong chance The Fate of the Furious will hold onto its coveted spot for the remainder of 2016.
One of the reasons why The Fate of the Furious' first trailer has been viewed so many times could be because of its revelation that Vin Diesel's Dominic Toretto will be a bad guy. Despite being one of the Fast & Furious franchise's main protagonists since the beginning, the formerly-titled Fast 8 will see him working with the movie's main antagonist, Cipher, played by Charlize Theron). Whether Dom is being blackmailed (the likelier option) or Cipher has truly coaxed him over to the dark side, he'll be forced to go up against his teammates, setting up one of the most personal conflicts these characters have ever faced.
The Fate of the Furious will put the pedal to the metal in theaters on April 14, 2017.
