The Biggest Vin Diesel Movies Of All-Time

To get to the fifth installment in a series, you must be doing something right at the box office. Still, prior to Fast Five, the Fast & Furious movies hadn't been as big as, say, Star Wars or Spider-Man films worldwide. In fact, none of the first four movies cracked $360 million worldwide. They didn't need to, however, since they cost less to make than, say, a Transformers movie — but it was clear these Fast & Furious titles could go bigger at the worldwide box office.

Fast Five was the injection of superpowered box office that this franchise had been looking for. The feature grossed an enormous $630.1 million worldwide, a 75% increase over the worldwide gross of Fast & Furious. It also redefined the kind of box office success that movies released in April could be expected to deliver. 

How did Fast Five manage to revitalize a franchise an entire decade into its existence? The solution turned out to be upgrading certain parts of the Fast & Furious vehicle. Bringing all the action to Rio de Janiero rather than the American settings of many of the previous films also helped to expand its overseas appeal, as did shifting to larger-scale stunt work and a heist-movie tone. It also didn't hurt to have Dwayne Johnson around. 

The Fast and the Furious will forever be Vin Diesel's signature franchise, and with Fast Five, the franchise had hit a new high at the worldwide box office.