$1.5 Billion ‘Furious 7’ Paid Vin Diesel $47M & Made Him World’s 3rd Highest-Paid Actor, 8 Years Later ‘Fast X’ Cut $27M Out of His Paycheck

The Fast & Furious franchise beats the likes of Marvel to become the longest-running interconnected narrative in cinema, second only to Star Wars. But without Vin Diesel at the helm, the road paved with love, friendship, family, and sacrifice that takes the franchise all the way to the top of box office rankings wouldn’t have been an easy feat. 

By the prevailing laws of industry success, the actor would then go on to not only become the face of Fast & Furious but stand worthy of such an honor by raking in one of the highest paychecks in Hollywood history. But nothing survives in la la land without its fair share of controversy.

Vin Diesel-led Fast franchise hurtles toward an epic close

Vin Diesel Becomes 3rd Highest-Paid Actor For Furious 7

After a few scattered appearances over the course of the 90s, Vin Diesel struck gold when he was cast as the leading man in a film involving street racing. Filmed on a budget of $38 million, 2001’s The Fast and the Furious dominated the box office upon release, becoming a stellar critical and commercial success and raking in $207 million worldwide. 

Vin Diesel

Now, after 9 films and one spin-off, the franchise stands at over $6 billion in global box office earnings, with its leading man holding a net worth of a formidable $225 million, most of which comes from his 20-year tenure within the Fast family. Furious 7, which holds the record as the highest-grossing ($1.5 billion) and most successful of all the Fast films, subsequently paid Diesel $47 million as salary in 2015, making him the 3rd highest-paid actor in the world.

Two years later, The Fate of the Furious (or simply F8) would knock the franchise (and Vin Diesel) down a peg. The movie clocked in at $1.2 billion and Vin Diesel took home a salary that was a drastic $27 million less than his previous one. The actor would go on to earn only $20 million for each of the subsequent installments that came after, including his latest release, Fast X.

Vin Diesel Brings Out the Big Guns For the Fast Finale

Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto is hardly done doling out his lesson to the world about what it means to be a family. As the franchise nears its scheduled finale, the Marvel actor has also somewhat raised the stakes, promising to leave no stone unturned for the final showdown, and involved himself personally to see the vision through to the end. 

Vin Diesel with Paul Walker and Dwayne Johnson

One of the results of his endeavors has been the return of Dwayne Johnson in Fast X in an end-credits cameo scene, that teases an eventual reconciliation and a more involved role in the 11th and last installment. Despite the ugly feud that had left the waters muddied after the Vin Diesel v The Rock clash in the aftermath of F8, it is impressive, to say the least, to be able to have convinced the Hobbs & Shaw actor for however minute a role, especially considering how Johnson had been put off by Diesel’s “manipulative” efforts to bring him back for Fast X.

Fast X is currently playing in theatres worldwide.