BO Clout: Fast Five puts Vin Diesel up to six $100 million US films

Vin Diesel stats:
$100M+ (World Wide) - 8
$100M+ (US) - 6
$200M+ (WW) - 5
$500M+ (WW) - 1



Box Office (BO) Clout is a star's ability to deliver $100M+ films. This determines the star's momentum and achievements. You can argue that art is more important than money in films, and you can argue that there's a lot more involved in a film's success than the stars (direction, story elements, etc.), and you'd be right. But BO Clout at least tracks the star's momentum in the area where studios care ($) and their overall ability to land the right roles.

Here are all the Vin Diesel films:

On the way:
- Hannibal the Conquerer (2011)
- Riddick Sequel
- xXx Sequel
- The Machine
- The Wheelman

4/29/11 - Fast Five - Univ.
$203,879,000 (US) - $576,754,829 (WW)

4/03/09 - Fast & Furious - Univ.
$155,064,265 (US) - $363,064,265 (WW)

8/29/08 - Babylon A.D. - Fox
$22,532,572 (US) - $70,216,497 (WW)

3/17/06 - Find Me Guilty - YFG
$1,173,643 (US) - $1,788,077 (WW)

3/4/05 - The Pacifier - BV (Disney)
$113,086,868 (US) - $198,006,880 (WW)

6/11/04 - The Chronicles of Riddick - Univ.
$57,761,012 (US) - $107,212,751 (WW)

4/4/03 - A Man Apart - NL
$26,736,098 (US) - $44,114,828 (WW)

10/11/02 - Knockaround Guys - NL
$11,715,637 (US) - $12,419,700 (WW)

8/9/02 - xXx - SonR
$142,109,382 (US) - $267,200,000 (WW)

6/22/01 - The Fast and the Furious - Univ.
$144,533,925 (US) - $206,512,310 (WW)

2/18/00 - Pitch Black - USA
$39,240,659 (US) - $53,182,088 (WW)

2/18/00 - Boiler Room - NL
$16,970,581 (US) - $28,773,637 (WW)

8/3/99 - The Iron Giant (Voice) - WB
$23,159,305 (US) - $31,333,917 (WW)

7/24/98 - Saving Private Ryan - DW
$216,540,909 (US) - $481,635,085 (WW)


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EDitorial:

Vin Diesel is riding Fast and Furious (he has for the last two FF films). It's helped bring him back from the realm of the forgotten.

What originally happened was that he became successful quickly with Private Ryan, Pitch Black, F&F, and xXx. Then he decided he could line up a Riddick film, go do his own thing, try dramatic acting, be a blockbuster star, and didn't need the F&F and xXx sequels. So he wasn't in F&F2, xXx2 (although Sammy Jackson came back), and Vin only cameo'd in F&F3.

But by that time he only managed to pull a line drive out of the Pacifier and that's it. His hits were dry. So the F&F franchise needed him (and Walker) back, and they both needed hits. So they went at F&F4 hard, brought the actors back, upped the effects and action, and it paid off as the top F&F. So they decided to step it up even more for F&F5. They added The Rock, brought Tyrese Gibson back (from F&F2), added Ludacris, and kept it as fast and furious as possible. They found the right combination, and Fast Five made $200M (US) and $500M (WW), which turned it into a gold franchise, starting this year.

My point of saying that, is that because it is now a gold franchise, they should keep at it.

Vin seems to have his act together now. He realizes he needs the hits and the sequels in order to make bank and push his career. He's proven that by coming back and doing two F&F films, and helping the franchise to new levels. He's also going to try to do the same (make hit franchises) with Riddick (first attempt was Pitch Black and then Chronicles of Riddick; I hope they try harder this time), with xXx (Ice Cube couldn't pull it off), and with some new material that could work: Wheelman (self explanatory), Hannibal (getting historical), and The Machine (robot time).

So I wish Vin Diesel the best with his revamped Box Office strategy. He's definitely headed in the right direction. However, he needs to keep his head on his shoulders and shouldn't abandon franchises if they can help him make money and push his career (like I said, Paul Walker didn't abandon F&F2 and Samuel L. Jackson didn't abandon xXx2). So just remember, Vin, you're just a man, you can't make hits out of thin air, and you should stay loyal to your fans if you expect them to stay loyal to you. If they want a xXx2, then that's what you give them. You make it bigger and better and give them what they want, even if you'd rather move on.

Which comes to my second point of advice (other than not making the same mistakes he made when he abandoned xXx and F&F): F&F is now a global franchise. The people want a sixth one, and they want it to be just as big. So I'd get on board for a sixt F&F, get as many of the actors in as you can, add one or two more names if you lose any (maybe a woman, like Angelina Jolie, Meagan Fox or insert an action chick name here), push the locations (maybe visit another country), and push the effects (design some sweet sequences and see how you can fit them into the story, which is pretty much Matrix Reloaded if you think about it).

Enjoy!

- The Emperor