Why Fast & Furious 10 Cost 8x More Than The Original Movie
With recent reports indicating that Fast X's budget has reached $300 million, why is it that the latest film is so much more expensive than the first?
The ever-growing nature of the franchise has seen the budget for Fast & Furious 10 reportedly reach approximately eight times more than that of the original film. Fast & Furious movies have now been a staple of action cinema for over two decades, and in that time, the franchise has changed considerably. 2001’s The Fast and the Furious introduced audiences to Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker), and the idea of street-racing criminals pulling off high-octane heists – with the franchise’s movies continuing to evolve ever since.
With a large ensemble cast that seems to swell with each new entry, Fast & Furious is now bigger than ever. Despite the controversy surrounding Fast & Furious 10, it’s set to mark the beginning of the end of the Fast Saga, serving as the first half of the franchise’s supposed final story. After the massive success of F9, Fast and Furious 10 – now officially titled Fast X – is reportedly the most expensive entry into the franchise to date.
According to reports, Fast 10’s budget has hit $300 million, a truly staggering figure which is approximately eight times the budget of the first film in the franchise. The massive cost of production is clear evidence of the studio’s faith in the upcoming movie, and after F9’s impressive box office, this is hardly surprising. However, it would seem that the reason for the budget increasing so much since the first installment is linked to the way the Fast & Furious franchise has evolved since its first film, with a new focus on bigger stunts and a star-studded cast as opposed to the more grounded drama of the 2001 original.
Of the two major ways the franchise has changed, perhaps the most expensive is its new focus on its central “family.” Fast X’s ever-shifting cast of stars is growing even larger, with both Brie Larson and Jason Momoa now set to join the franchise. Larson and Momoa join the likes of Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, and Charlize Theron, among others. Fast & Furious’ continued popularity has seen each member of its ensemble cast become a bigger star, which has pushed their individual salaries ever higher. Fast and Furious 10 also sees Vin Diesel continue as one of the franchise’s producers in addition to his starring role, which is likely to also reflect in his own salary.
Beyond paying its actors, another major financial consideration is the Fast & Furious franchise’s stunts. In the original film, these were relatively straightforward, but as the series has grown, they’ve become increasingly complex and therefore require a larger budget. With its success, the franchise has become more ambitious concerning its outlandish car stunts and chases, and therein lies the other major reason that Fast X’s budget is so much larger than that of the 2001 original.
It’s already been teased that Fast and Furious 10 will beat F9’s stunts, which indicates how each film seeks to outdo the last. This escalation has been a key factor in the Fast Saga’s success, but it also requires more financial input to make it a reality. Though Fast and Furious 10’s $300 million budget is eight times larger than the $38 million of The Fast and the Furious, this is simply because the franchise itself has grown far beyond the original film’s scale.
