Overview
What the popularity of the Fast and Furious film franchise says about Hollywood blockbusters and media production Fast and Furious Franchising charts the transformation of Hollywood through the story of one of its most successful cinematic universes. Released in 2001, The Fast and the Furious became an unexpected hit, developing into a seven-billion-dollar media franchise with nine direct sequels (so far), one ""sidequel,"" copious spin-offs, and licensing deals from board games to theme park rides. Dan Hassler-Forest shows how Fast and Furious paved the way for a new form of serialized storytelling that balanced new distribution practices and expansion into international markets with a savvy awareness of representational politics. By following the series's development over the past twenty-five years, Fast and Furious Franchising reveals distinct phases that reflect larger media-industrial trends: the postclassical blockbuster era of the early 2000s; the emergence of the megafranchise between 2008 and 2014; the franchise's ""imperial"" era, from 2015 through 2019; and the postpandemic crisis era of media saturation and franchise fatigue. While examining this rapidly changing media landscape, Hassler-Forest offers lively, insightful analyses of the films as they have embraced ever-more-ludicrous plots and unlikely character turns while always maintaining their signature faith in the power of family. As he illuminates the role of the Fast and Furious movies in the global entertainment industry, Hassler-Forest shows how the films' improbable success proves Dominic Toretto's adage that, whether ""you win by an inch or a mile . . . winning's winning."" Retail e-book files for this title are screen-reader friendly with images accompanied by short alt text and/or extended descriptions.
Full Product Details
Author: Dan Hassler-Forest
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
Imprint: University of Minnesota Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 1.20cm
, Length: 20.30cm
Weight: 0.425kg
ISBN: 9781517921071
ISBN 10: 1517921074
Pages: 240
Publication Date: 07 April 2026
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
College/higher education
,
Professional & Vocational
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Not yet available
This item is yet to be released. You can pre-order this item and we will dispatch it to you upon its release.
Reviews
""If you want to know why Hollywood has been doing the things it's been doing for the past quarter century, there can be no better guides than Dan Hassler-Forest and Dominic Toretto. Read or die.""--Mark Bould, author of The Anthropocene Unconscious: Climate Catastrophe Culture ""In Fast and Furious Franchising, author Dan Hassler-Forest tackles the notoriously messy world of this blockbuster film series with an engaging energy and clarity. By working chronologically through the series, this book astutely unpacks the complexities of Fast and Furious to reveal new insights into contemporary Hollywood and the past twenty-five years of studio filmmaking, distribution, and reception.""--Fraser Elliott, coeditor of Full-Throttle Franchise: The Culture, Business, and Politics of Fast Furious
Author Information
Dan Hassler-Forest is assistant professor of media and culture studies at Utrecht University. He is author of several books, including Janelle Mone's Queer Afrofuturism: Defying Every Label; Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Politics: Transmedia World-Building Beyond Capitalism; and Capitalist Superheroes: Caped Crusaders in the Neoliberal Age.
