Vin Diesel Furious as His Final Movie's Budget Gets Cut, Needs a Solution Fast: Report
“Fast & Furious” now perfectly describes Vin Diesel: the man’s having trouble funding his franchise’s final installment as his budget demands are all too high.
Summary:
- 2023’s Fast X has a massive $340M production budget and barely broke even with a $704M box office haul.
- For Fast & Furious 11, the finale of his saga, Vin Diesel wants a more reasonable but still ridiculous $250M.
- Universal execs are not willing to risk such an investment and demand that Diesel finds a way to make the movie cheaper.
Counting almost two dozen years of history, Vin Diesel’s Fast & Furious franchise is among the most expensive and the most profitable properties in Hollywood… At least, it used to be such. Fast X really didn’t fare too well commercially, and today, it spells trouble for Diesel as he can’t seem to raise enough money for a grand finale.
Fast X Fell Victim to Its Bizarre Budget
The thing about a movie’s commercial success is that it doesn’t solely depend on the number of people who come to theaters; it also largely depends on the production budget. There’s not much joy in a $500M box office revenue if you barely break even against your $249M budget as according to the general rule of thumb, a movie only starts earning money after doubling its production budget at the box office.
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Vin Diesel’s previous Fast & Furious installment, 2023’s Fast X, raked up a mighty impressive $704M at the worldwide box office, but it did the movie little good. Thanks to its ridiculous $340M budget that made it the eight-most expensive film in history, the revenue was far less than optimal: only about $20M after breaking even.
This set Vin Diesel back in the eyes of his producers quite a bit — and consequently, led to the very problem the Fast & Furious Godfather is currently having.
Fast & Furious 11 Gets Restricted on Budget
The next installment of Vin Diesel’s iconic action franchise is deemed to be the last, and the F&F’s Godfather wants a proper grand finale. A proper grand finale, in turn, requires quite a hefty budget, but even after knocking his expectations down a notch, Diesel still can’t convince the producers to give him enough money to cover it.
“Universal execs are begging Vin to figure out how to make this movie substantially cheaper. [Vin] wants to make the biggest Fast movie ever and he's taking his case to the fans with his social media updates. It's a clever strategy, but he's alienating the executives who made him rich. Vin has to prove to the studio that fans will show up in huge numbers,” a source told National Enquirer.
According to the report, Vin Diesel is asking for a $250M production budget and by far, his demands have been met with strong resistance. While much lower than Fast X’s budget, it’s still a lot of money, and the previous installment’s commercial whoopsie doesn’t inspire the studio to throw all that cash at Diesel.