With a budget of $759 million dollars, the Fast and Furious franchise is one of the biggest global money-makers in film history thanks to its combined gross of $3.9 billion. Across seven films—and two mostly unheard of shorts—the series has impressed audiences all over the world with its practical stunts, novel action sequences, and diverse cast. Next month's The Fate of the Furious is projected to open with $110 million and is already garnering positive reviews; so there's no telling just how big of a profit Universal Pictures will earn, when all is said and done.
But all those car chases, shoot outs, safe hauls, skyscraper jumps, and tank fights come at a cost. For the films, it's all part of a budget that's easily recouped at the box office. But what about inside the world of the movies? The Fast crew have traveled all over the world doling out justice and settling scores, but they've left entire neighborhoods destroyed in their wake. That got some people in the insurance industry wondering what exactly the total cost of damages are, from sports cars to high-rise buildings destroyed.
CBR has an estimate done by Insure the Gap and Nacho Llacer, an insurance company and group of classic car consultants, respectively. According to their numbers, they estimate that the Fast & Furious heroes and villains have done around $514 million in damage. A steep number to be sure, but one easily covered by the gross of the combined films. Check out their slew of graphics in the gallery below, which break things down across films, characters, type of damage, and more.
[vn_gallery name="Fast & Furious Real-World Damage Costs" id="935921"]
As you can see, the heroes actually cause far more property damage than the villains, though there's certainly a fine line between the distinction. After all, many of the heroes started out as villains in the movies. Still, out of our protagonists, Dom leads with most damage caused, followed by Hobbs, and finally Brian. For the villains, Deckard Shaw not only leads, but blows all competition out of the water. Naturally, these estimates can't take into account peripheral damage and the exact costs of some of the 'special vehicles' in the films, but we're going to trust the math of the insurance company on this one.
There's also an interesting graph showing that as cosmetic building damage has decreased, after peaking in Fast Five, serious building damage has gone up dramatically. The gang really aren't messing around anymore. Given what we've seen in the latest Fate of the Furious trailer, that total is only going to rise in the next installment. Luckily, it looks like the frozen tundra will be bearing the brunt of at least one major scene, which will worry environmentalists but should ease insurers minds.
Source: CBR
