The Fast & Furious series is one of the most successful movie franchises of all time, but as it stands, the films are $1.9 billion away from breaking Vin Diesel’s current box office record. The franchise started way back in 2001 with The Fast and the Furious, and, in the years since, nine further installments have been released. Despite not being a favorite among critics, every Fast & Furious movie since the first one has been a commercial success. Nevertheless, the series is only Vin Diesel’s second most financially prosperous movie franchise.

As volatile street racer and family leader Dominic Toretto, Vin Diesel has starred in all but two of the entries in the Fast & Furious series. Easily the star’s most well-known and beloved character, Diesel is set to reprise his role as Toretto in the upcoming Fast & Furious 11, which is expected to be released at some point in 2026. With Fast & Furious 11, Diesel will have the opportunity to break his own box office record.

Vin Diesel’s Fast & Furious Movies Trail His MCU Appearances At The Box Office

The Star Apears In Two Of The Top Ten Highest-Grossing Film Franchises

Despite the last six Fast & Furious movies all making over $700 million at the worldwide box office, the car-centric series still trails behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe when it comes to Vin Diesel’s highest-grossing franchise. Diesel is one of several actors who play Groot, the sentient tree. The star has lent his voice to the character in several Marvel projects, including three Guardians of the Galaxy movies and two Avengers films. As it stands, the Fast & Furious series is the 7th highest-grossing movie franchise of all time, while the MCU takes the top spot.

In terms of Diesel’s MCU appearances alone, the total is just over $8 billion. Meanwhile, when the box office earnings of the two non-Vin Diesel-starring Fast & Furious movies (2 Fast 2 Furious and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw) are subtracted from the series’ overall total, the result is $6.3 billion (via The Numbers). However, 2006’s The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift arguably also doesn’t count, given that Diesel only makes an uncredited cameo. As such, the actual total is roughly $6.1 billion. The financial difference between Diesel’s MCU credits and his Fast & Furious work is, therefore, $1.9 billion.

Fast & Furious’ Ending Plan Makes Breaking Vin Diesel’s Franchise Record Unlikely

It’s Only Got One More Chance To Claim The Top Spot

With no further Guardians of the Galaxy films planned and no hints that Groot will be returning to the MCU any time soon, it looks unlikely that Vin Diesel’s MCU box office total will increase. In contrast, the development of Fast & Furious 11 means that his Fast & Furious total will go up within the next couple of years. However, the eleventh installment in the franchise is planned to be the last, effectively meaning that the movie would have to make $1.9 billion on its own if the series is to overtake the MCU as Diesel’s highest-grossing franchise.

The chances of this happening are very slim. After all, in the history of cinema, only six films have ever made more than $1.9 billion. Furthermore, the most financially successful Fast & Furious movie, 2015’s Furious 7, made just over $1.5 billion, which, though impressive, is still a way off the $1.9 billion that’s required to break the record. Additionally, every Vin Diesel-starring Fast & Furious movie since Furious 7 has made slightly less money than the one before it. If this trend were to continue, Fast & Furious 11‘s box office takings would be nowhere near $1.9 billion.

It’s possible that, if the movie is marketed as the last one in the series, Fast & Furious 11 could draw in a bigger audience than it otherwise would. This certainly worked for both the MCU’s Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. Nevertheless, in the few short years since both of those titles were released, the movie landscape has changed dramatically and now fewer movies pass the billion-dollar mark. As such, the Fast & Furious series is pretty much guaranteed to remain Vin Diesel’s second highest-grossing film franchise.

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