The Fast & Furious franchise struggled to find its footing early on, but the least successful sequel actually offered an opportunity for the series to grow. Starting in 2001, The Fast and the Furious began as a crime thriller with exciting street racing action. The Vin Diesel and Paul Walker vehicle proved successful, thus a franchise was born.

Over the next 20 years, the series would rise and fall in quality, with a huge ensemble cast returning to form Dom Toretto’s extended “family”. What began as a simple-but-effective action film slowly began to morph into something more, and street racing gave way to international espionage and even space travel.

With things getting increasingly goofy over the years, the early films are actually quite quaint by comparison. While there’s no denying that the Fast & Furious franchise has done well, there were several opportunities for it to grow and change in a positive way. One early sequel was a box office disappointment, but has only gotten better over time.

Tokyo Drift Has Everything A Fast & Furious Movie Should

The Threequel Is Quintessential Fast & Furious

Though it was maligned at the time, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift is a perfect example of the franchise’s potential. It has more car action than its predecessors, and the change of location continued the trend set by 2 Fast 2 Furious. The character dynamics are weak, but the first two films weren’t Oscar-caliber stories either.

It showed that Fast & Furious didn’t need Paul Walker and Vin Diesel, and opened the door for a plethora of global possibilities. There was a crime element, but the car scenes are what made the original trilogy of Fast & Furious so beloved. Tokyo Drift had oodles of car culture, and an especially international flair.

The Lowest Grossing Movie In The Franchise Is Tokyo Drift

It Wasn’t The Reviews That Tanked Tokyo Drift

Reviews for Tokyo Drift were bad, but that’s not what sank the threequel. As is often the case with Hollywood movies, the film’s box office performance dictated how the studio approached future sequels. Box Office Mojo notes that the movie earned a respectable $158 million (about $270 million with inflation), but that was way down from the first two installments.

In fact, Tokyo Drift is the lowest-grossing movie in the franchise, and box office numbers would steadily climb in subsequent sequels. It’s not hard to see why, since a franchise is often anchored by its biggest stars. No Walker or Diesel meant that audiences just weren’t interested, even if the threequel had a lot more to offer than its predecessor.

Tokyo Drift Has Become More Important With Later Sequels

The Threequel Is Secretly The Most Important F&F Movie

While the franchise initially just ignored Tokyo Drift entirely, the threequel has slowly become more important since its release. Not only did the character of Han return to be part of Dom’s “family” on numerous occasions, but it also serves as an important timeline marker for the franchise’s somewhat muddled chronology.

It might not have gotten the respect it deserves, and the Fast & Furious movies will never go back to simple street racing again, but Tokyo Drift has earned a cult following nearly 20 years later. Had the fourth movie been more like Tokyo Drift, there’s no telling where the series would have gone.