50 Fun Facts About The Fate of the Furious

Who directed The Fate of the Furious?

Vin Diesel announced the Straight Outta Compton director on The Tonight Show in October 2015.

Where are Dom and Letty on their honeymoon when the film opens?

Universal had to get approval from both the U.S. and Cuban governments to shoot there.

What car does Dom drive in the opening race against Raldo?

It is his cousin Fernando's car; the Impala is what Dom wagers, and the Fairlane is Raldo's.

What does Dom do with the car he wins in the opening race?

Political economist Richard Feinberg called the Cuban sequence a Hollywood love letter and a parable of mutual respect.

Who plays the cyberterrorist Cipher?

She was confirmed in April 2016 alongside the actor who plays her enforcer.

What does the team steal from a military outpost at the start of Hobbs's off-the-books mission?

Dom double-crosses the team during the getaway and drives off with it for Cipher.

Where does Hobbs end up after the EMP mission goes wrong?

Mr. Nobody engineers the pair's escape so they can join the hunt for Dom.

What is God's Eye, which Cipher steals from the team's base?

Cipher had earlier hired Mose Jakande to steal it in Furious 7 and Owen Shaw to steal the Nightshade EMP.

What leverage does Cipher hold over Dom?

Dom did not know the child existed until Cipher showed him the photo on her phone in Cuba.

Who plays Elena Neves?

The Spanish actress had played the Rio police officer since Fast Five; Cipher has her killed in front of Dom.

What does Cipher send Dom to steal in New York City?

Cipher hacks hundreds of cars into a 'zombie' swarm to trap the motorcade, a sequence largely shot in Ohio.

Whom does Dom secretly recruit to rescue his son from Cipher's plane?

He offers to get her sons out of government custody in exchange; an Oscar-winning British dame plays her, uncredited.

Which actress makes her franchise debut as the Shaw brothers' mother?

She announced the role herself in an interview with Elle in June 2016; the part is uncredited.

Who is Cipher's right-hand man, Connor Rhodes, played by?

The Game of Thrones actor's character kills Elena and is killed by Dom in the finale.

What does Dom activate at the Russian military base with the EMP?

Cipher hijacks it to start a nuclear war, and the team chases it across the ice in their cars.

How does Dom deal with the heat-seeking missile Cipher fires at his Charger?

The blast destroys the sub, and Dom shelters behind the family's cars as they form a wall around him.

Who rescues Dom's son from Cipher's plane?

Deckard faked his death with his mother's help; the baby-in-a-carrier shootout became the film's most talked-about scene.

How does Cipher escape at the end?

She returns in F9 and Fast X, still played by Theron.

What does Dom name his son?

A tribute to Brian O'Conner, the character played by the late Paul Walker.

Why does Hobbs turn down getting his DSS job back?

Dwayne Johnson had hinted at a Hobbs spin-off as early as 2015; it arrived in 2019.

Who plays Little Nobody, the young agent working under Mr. Nobody?

Kurt Russell's Mr. Nobody, introduced in Furious 7, was always meant to span multiple films.

Which character from the third film was contracted to appear but dropped out for NCIS: New Orleans?

Lucas Black had signed on for Furious 7, this film and F9 back in 2013.

Which director was let go from the film after saying he wanted to make The Conjuring 2?

Universal offered the job back after Justin Lin chose a Star Trek sequel instead, but Wan declined, citing the toll Furious 7 had taken on his health.

Which film did Justin Lin choose to direct instead of returning to the franchise?

Lin had directed four Fast films in a row, from the third to the sixth.

What was the film's title when Vin Diesel first announced it at the 2015 Teen Choice Awards?

It was retitled The Fate of the Furious in December 2016, four months before release.

How much was Vin Diesel paid for the film?

He also produced, and was the first cast member to confirm his return.

Where did principal photography begin in March 2016?

Strong winds blew a plastic iceberg prop into a paddock there, injuring two horses, one of them fatally.

Which U.S. city stood in for Manhattan, as it had in earlier franchise films?

Some scenes were also shot in New York itself, along with Atlanta.

Who composed the score, returning after scoring the third, fourth, fifth and seventh films?

Tyler had skipped Fast & Furious 6, which was scored by Lucas Vidal.

Where did the film hold its world premiere?

April 4, 2017, ten days before the U.S. release; part of the plot is set in the city.

This was the first film in the series since which instalment not to feature Paul Walker's Brian O'Conner?

Producer Neal Moritz said the character had 'moved on'; talk of Cody Walker stepping in came to nothing.

According to producer Neal Moritz, the film shifted the franchise's focus from heist movies to what?

Fast Five had made the earlier jump from street racing to heists.

Roughly how much did The Fate of the Furious gross worldwide?

It was the third-highest-grossing film of 2017 and the second in the franchise to pass $1 billion.

What record did the film's worldwide debut set?

It held the mark for a year before a Marvel film took it.

Which film broke the worldwide opening record set by The Fate of the Furious?

Before Fate, only The Force Awakens and Jurassic World had opened above $500 million globally.

Which country was by far the film's biggest market?

Its $192 million opening there was the bulk of the record international debut; Brazil was a distant second overall.

How much did the film take in its first three days in the U.S. and Canada?

It was well behind Furious 7's $147 million; Forbes compared the drop to Spectre following Skyfall.

The director broke his own Straight Outta Compton record for the biggest what by a Black filmmaker?

Gray had set the previous mark two years earlier with the N.W.A biopic.

Which Marvel film, also starring Diesel and Russell, knocked it off the top of the international chart?

Diesel voices Groot and Russell plays Ego, so he was competing with himself in its third weekend.

In which country did the film open behind Beauty and the Beast and a Detective Conan film?

Its $7.5 million debut there was still a franchise record.

What was the film's Rotten Tomatoes approval rating?

Audiences gave it an A CinemaScore; IndieWire called it the worst entry in the franchise.

Which spin-off followed in 2019 after the chemistry between Johnson and Statham was praised?

F9 followed in 2021 and Fast X in 2023, with an eleventh film, Fast Forever, in production.

Which car does Dom wager on the opening Havana race against Raldo?

He races his cousin Fernando's 1949 Fleetline against Raldo's Fairlane Crown Victoria, putting his own Impala on the line.

In which city is the military outpost where Hobbs's off-the-books EMP mission takes place?

Hobbs is warned he faces arrest if captured, and Dom steals the device for Cipher during the getaway.

What was the film's estimated production budget, making it one of the costliest films ever?

The spend paid off: it became only the second film in the franchise, after Furious 7, to pass $1 billion worldwide.

Which original-film director did Vin Diesel say he wanted back for the eighth instalment?

Cohen had directed The Fast and the Furious in 2001; the job ultimately went to F. Gary Gray after James Wan left to make The Conjuring 2.

Which pair of reggaeton stars return as Dom's former crew members Leo and Santos?

The two had last appeared as members of Dom's crew in Fast Five, after debuting in the short Los Bandoleros.

What mishap struck on the first day of shooting in Iceland in March 2016?

The Mývatn shoot staged the film's frozen-lake chase with the Russian submarine, before production moved on to Havana in April.

In how many IMAX screens did the film open, the widest IMAX release in history at the time?

Its $31.1 million IMAX haul was the biggest April debut for the format and the fourth-biggest overall at that point.

How many screenplays had Chris Morgan written for the franchise with this film?

Morgan had scripted every entry since Tokyo Drift, with producer Neal H. Moritz again alongside him.