Furious 7

Did You Know?

• The film premiered at the SXSW Film Festival at 12:07 a.m. at Austin's Paramount Theatre on March 16, 2015.
• For its global premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre, IMAX installed a new laser projection, the first such installation in the US and the second worldwide.
• Seven-second behind-the-scenes videos titled '7 Seconds of 7' were released leading up to the film.

Plot

Dom and his crew are back in the United States after taking down Owen Shaw and getting their records cleared. Dom works with Letty to help her recover her lost memories while Brian gets used to being a father. Deckard Shaw, Owen’s older brother, wants payback for his sibling being in a coma. He raids a DSS field office in Los Angeles, grabs files on Dom’s people, fights Luke Hobbs and Elena Neves, and sets off a bomb that puts Hobbs in the hospital.

Deckard also mails a letter bomb that blows up Dom’s house after killing Han Lue in Tokyo. Hobbs tells Dom about Deckard, so Dom goes to Tokyo to bring back Han’s body. At the funeral in Los Angeles, Dom sees Deckard and gives chase, but Deckard escapes when a covert team led by Mr. Nobody shows up. Mr. Nobody says he can help stop Deckard if Dom first retrieves a tracking program called God’s Eye and rescues its creator, Ramsey, from a Nigerian terrorist named Mose Jakande.

The team drops their cars from a plane over the Caucasus Mountains in Azerbaijan, attacks Jakande’s convoy, and frees Ramsey. Then they head to Abu Dhabi and steal the God’s Eye chip from a billionaire’s Lykan HyperSport. Back in LA, Dom gets ready to confront Deckard while Letty, Brian, Tej, and Roman guard Ramsey. Jakande chases them with a stealth helicopter and a drone.

Ramsey works to hack God’s Eye, Hobbs leaves the hospital and takes out the drone, and Brian seizes a signal tower so Ramsey can shut the program down. Jakande spots Dom and Deckard fighting on a parking garage roof and attacks both. Dom overpowers Deckard, drives his Charger into Jakande’s helicopter, and drops a bag of grenades. Hobbs shoots the grenades, killing Jakande.

Cast

Vin Diesel plays Dominic Toretto, a former criminal and professional street racer who has retired with his wife Letty. Paul Walker plays Brian O'Conner, a former LAPD officer and FBI agent turned criminal who has retired with his wife Mia and son Jack; this was Walker's final film role. Caleb and Cody Walker, Paul's younger brothers, served as stand-ins to complete his remaining scenes after his death. Dwayne Johnson plays Luke Hobbs, a DSS agent who allied with Dom's team; Johnson initially cited scheduling conflicts with Hercules (2014) but confirmed his return when production began in September.

Michelle Rodriguez plays Letty Ortiz-Toretto, Dom's wife and a street racer suffering from amnesia after being presumed dead in Fast & Furious (2009). Tyrese Gibson plays Roman Pearce, a former criminal and childhood friend of Brian. Ludacris (credited as Chris “Ludacris” Bridges) plays Tej Parker, a mechanic from Miami. Jordana Brewster plays Mia Toretto, Dom's sister and Brian's wife.

Djimon Hounsou plays Mose Jakande, a Nigerian-born mercenary and terrorist who allies with Shaw. Tony Jaa plays Kiet, a member of Jakande's team; Jaa made his Hollywood debut in this film. Ronda Rousey plays Kara, head of security for an Abu Dhabi billionaire; Rousey shot this film and The Expendables 3 (2014) back-to-back to allow time for her UFC championship rematch.

Production

In October 2011, Universal considered filming two sequels—Fast Six and Fast Seven—back-to-back with a single storyline, both written by Chris Morgan and directed by Justin Lin. In December 2011, Vin Diesel stated that Fast & Furious 6 would be split into two parts due to story length. In February 2012, Dwayne Johnson said the two sequels would no longer be filmed simultaneously due to weather issues, and production on this film would begin after Fast & Furious 6.

In April 2013, Lin announced he would not return to direct the seventh film because the accelerated schedule would affect quality; Universal chose a quicker release due to having fewer reliable franchises. James Wan, known for horror films, was announced as director in April 2013, with Neal H. Moritz and Michael Fottrell producing and Morgan writing. Diesel announced a July 11, 2014 release date. In May 2013, Diesel said the film would feature Los Angeles, Tokyo, and the Middle East.

Principal photography began in September 2013 in Atlanta but was suspended in November after Paul Walker's death. Filming resumed in late March 2014 and ended in July, with Walker's brothers Caleb and Cody standing in to complete his scenes, delaying the release to 2015. Brian Tyler, who composed for Fast Five (2011), returned to compose the score.

Reception

Furious 7 grossed $353 million in the United States and Canada and $1.163 billion in other countries, for a worldwide total of $1.515 billion against a production budget of $190–250 million. It was the third-highest-grossing film of 2015 and the fourth-highest-grossing film of all time at release. It was the fastest film to reach $1 billion, doing so in 17 days, and the first to pass $1 million in 4DX admissions worldwide. Deadline Hollywood calculated its net profit as $354 million.

Worldwide, it was released across 810 IMAX theaters, the largest IMAX rollout in history, with a worldwide opening of $397.6 million, the second-highest opening ever. Its IMAX opening weekend total was $20.8 million. In the US and Canada, predictions for its opening weekend rose from $115 million to $150 million. It opened on April 3, 2015, across 4,004 theaters, including 365 IMAX, the widest opening for the franchise and Universal's widest until surpassed by Jurassic World and Minions.

It earned $67.4 million on its opening day, including a $15.8 million late-night run. Its opening weekend total was $147.1 million, breaking records for April and Easter weekend debuts, later overtaken by Avengers: Infinity War and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Its IMAX opening weekend of $13.3 million was the second-biggest for a 2D movie.