The Fate of the Furious, also known as Fast & Furious 8, is a 2017 American action movie directed by F. Gary Gray and written by Chris Morgan. It’s the eighth installment in The Fast and the Furious franchise. The movie stars Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Scott Eastwood, Nathalie Emmanuel, Elsa Pataky, Kurt Russell and Charlize Theron. Take a look below for 30 more fun and interesting facts about The Fate of the Furious.
1. The Fate of the Furious followed Dominic Toretto, who has settled down with his wife Letty, until cyberterrorist Cipher coerces him into working for her and turns him against his team, forcing them to find Dom and take down Cipher.
2. The Fate of the Furious marks the first installment in the franchise since The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift not to star both Paul Walker, who died in a single vehicle crash during the filming of Furious 7, and Jordana Brewster.
3. The movie grossed over $1.2 billion worldwide, making it the 13th movie, and the second in the franchise, after Furious 7, to gross over $1 billion, the third highest grossing movie of 2017, and the 13th highest grossing movie of all time.
4. The Fate of the Furious grossed $542 million worldwide during its opening weekend, setting the record for the highest grossing opening of all time, ahead of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
5. When Mr. Nobody explains the “top 10 most wanted” list, and that Roman was number 11, he says people in the room are number 6,8,9, and 10. The missing number 7 is a tribute to Paul Walker.
6. At the beginning of the movie, before the race, Dom tweaks the engine of the car he’s about to use to make it faster. He uses the opener ring of a soda can to attach a hose to a part of the engine, calling it a “poor man’s turbo.” Later during the race, when he engages it, he says, “Ok Buster, lets see if this works,” hinting that Brian O’Connor taught it to him. Dom’s crew constantly referred to Brian as “The Buster” or “Buster” throughout the first movie.
7. In April 2016, The Fate of the Furious filmed in Iceland, including filming reportedly the country’s biggest explosion.
8. When the crew is shown the garage of all the cars including the army tank, you can see Paul Walker’s GTR that his character drove in the 7th installment up on top of one of the 3 tier car racks.
9. The ritual dance that Hobbs and his soccer players perform is a traditional Pacific Island war dance called the Haka, the Siva Tau, the Cibi, or the Kaiao, depending on the tribe of origin.
10. Vin Diesel and Ludacris posted on their Instagram accounts, an image for The Fate of the Furious with the backdrop of New York City, the first time the franchise has visited New York.
11. There are no mid or post credits scene at the end of the movie.
12. Vin Diesel and the producers of the movie wanted to shoot some large action sequences in Metro Manila in the Philippines. Producers were requesting government agencies to close down a large piece of a major highway in Manila called EDSA, which is known to be one of the busiest highways int he country. The Philippine government turned down the request of the producers due to a major crippling of the city’s thoroughfares.
13. At one point in the movie, Jason Statham’s character called Dwayne Johnson’s character “Hercules.” This is a reference to the 2014 blockbuster, Hercules, in which Johnson starred as the title character.
14. The Fate of the Furious is the first movie in the franchise to include two Oscar winners: Helen Mirren and Charlize Theron.
15. The way Tyrese Gibson and Scott Eastwood bicker and make fun of each other is similar to how Gibson and Paul Walker bicker and make fun of each other in 2 Fast 2 Furious. Both of them were close friends with Paul Walker.
16. The movie grossed $63.9 million opening day in China, which is the highest grossing opening day in China. It then grossed $190 million in the country over the weekend, which is the highest grossing opening weekend in China.
17. F. Gary Gray was picked over Louis Leterrier, William Eubank, and Adam Wingard to direct the movie. Ericson Core, who was the cinematographer on the first movie, was also considered as well.
18. The coordinates 34.1381N, 118.3534W that come up right before the Red Dragon soccer scene are the middle of Universal Studios California.
19. The Fate of the Furious was released in 1,079 IMAX screens worldwide, which is the widest opening ever for a single movie in IMAX history.
20. The movie references the 1995 movie Friday, which was also directed by F. Gary Grey, when Tej Parker says, “Hey, Miss Parker,” at the end.
21. The Fate of the Furious marks Charlize Theron and Jason Statham’s second collaboration together. They both starred in the remake of The Italian Job.
22. The character played by Scott Eastwood is never named. Eastwood’s father, Clint Eastwood, is famous for playing the Man With No Name in Sergio Leone’s “Dollars” trilogy.
23. With Helen Mirren appearing in The Fate of the Furious, it marks the third time that Vin Diesel has acted opposite an actress who has been knighted as a Dame in the Order of the British Empire. The first was Judi Dench in The Chronicles of Riddick, and second was Charlotte Rampling in Babylon A.D.
24. On opening weekend, the movie grossed $31.1 million globally on IMAX screens alone.
25. Director F. Gary Gray had a scene which went beyond the family friendly level, which was then cut for U.K. audiences to maintain the 12A rating. If the scene had stayed, it would have been rated 15.
26. During the kids soccer game, Hobbs tells the government official who was asking him to go on the Berlin assignment to cheer for his daughter’s team or risk having, “them, being Tay Tay fans kicking his ass.” Tay Tay refers to Taylor Swift.
27. Hobbs makes the statement that he’s rather not return to his job after 16 years. The Fast and Furious franchise has been running for 16 years.
28. Writer of the series, Chris Morgan, has stated that having Dom name his son Brian just felt like the right thing to do. Not only was it a way to honor Paul, but also a way to honor the character of Brian for everything that he and Dom have been through throughout the saga and pay tribute to how much Brian has changed Dom’s life. It also imitates Diesel’s real life homage to Paul Walker, who named his daughter Pauline, after the late actor.
29. There have been rumors that there was supposed to be a cut scene at the end which sets up a spin off movie between Deck, Shaw and Luke Hobbs but it was cut by Vin Diesel.
30. Cipher is the first main villain played by a female in the Fast and Furious franchise since Fast & Furious 6.