All summer, gearheads and cinephiles had Friday, August 21st circled on their calendars. That was the day the 25th anniversary screenings of 2001’s ‘The Fast and the Furious’ would hit theatres nationwide.
The limited engagement really kicked off on August 17 with a cast screening in Los Angeles. In attendance were Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster and the daughter of the late Paul Walker, Meadow Walker. The cool part is that the event was held at the exact same place where, back then, the Mann Village Theatre hosted the original Los Angeles premiere of ‘The Fast and the Furious’ on June 18, 2001.
Of course, no Fast & Furious screening would be complete without a display of ‘hero cars’ from the film, the machines that inspired a generation of kids to get into cars in the first place.
In Miami, L.A. and other car-crazy cities across the U.S., cinemas organized special screenings where moviegoers could bring their cool cars to F&F-inspired meets before the movie. Some of the best-organized events even had actors, including the guys who played Hector and Jesse in the first film, in attendance. The events in Florida even included a car cruise after the movie. Yup, car culture at its finest!
Despite all the interest surrounding car culture in Toronto, theatres such as Cineplex, Landmark and the 5 Drive-In dropped the ball on organizing a special screening with a car meet, despite repeated inquiries. Luckily, a car meet naturally materialized in the parking lot of the Colossus Woodbridge, the giant UFO-shaped theatre at Hwy 7 and Weston Rd, on Friday night.
It was pretty easy for gearheads to find each other in the parking lot.
At the main driveway entrance on Famous Ave. into The Colossus, an R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R in Bayside Blue stood like a beacon. The Synthwave SVX and Bugeye WRX from the Demaras Racing stable rolled in, as did other F&F-inspired cars like an R35 Nissan GT-R and even a classic Dodge Charger, like the one Dom Toretto drove in the movies, minus the supercharger.
The cars were arrayed like gems in a jeweller’s display case, catching the eyes of arriving movie enthusiasts.
Inside the cinema, the 7:05 p.m. screening was packed. More than 95% of the seats were sold, with just the crappy front-row seats left empty. Everyone in the theatre was excited to see F&F on the big screen, and most had bought their tickets weeks in advance. It’s likely that many of these motoring maniacs own the entire F&F series on DVD, plus the movie is on Netflix right now. But seeing Dom and Brian, Letty and Mia, the Supra and the Charger, all up on a giant movie screen is an experience a TV simply cannot reproduce.
Some cinemas in the U.S. even had promotional Charger popcorn buckets and NOS-bottle sippy cups available. To avoid disappointment, many fans had already ordered these items from American cinemas.
The excitement of the crowd leaving the cinema was palpable. People even laughed at lines that have aged poorly, like when Dom’s buddy Vince angrily tells Brian O’Conner, “Why don’t you try Fatburger from now on? You can get yourself a cheese and fries for $2.95, faggot!” Amazing how much can change in 25 years!
In the corridors outside the theatre, the jokes continued, and one moviegoer exclaimed that he couldn’t believe Brian was an undercover cop. Another excited patron said he hoped they’d make another one of these movies soon.
Out in the parking lot, the car show was just revving up. The giant UFO atop the Colossus theatre provided an incredible backdrop for the classic JDM and American muscle cars. The bass pumped, the underglow flickered, and nearly everyone leaving the cinema hung around in the parking lot for a while.
Some guys were reliving the experience of watching this movie when they were in high school, while for others it was their first time seeing F&F at the cinema. The car meet outside was the physical manifestation of the movie’s enduring influence on popular culture.
As a group of gearheads gathered, an idea was passed around: move down to Pine Valley and Hwy 7, only 2 km west, where the regular Friday-night classic car meet was going strong. Most of the F&F crowd were driving tuner cars, imports like Hondas and Subarus, and were completely unaware of the ‘classics’ meet. But car culture can break down barriers, so a group headed over in convoy.
God only knows what the driver of the purple AMC Javelin on drag slicks thought when the Japanese cars started rolling into ‘his’ meet. Judging by the face he made, it wasn’t good!
Luckily, most of the old-timers in their lawn chairs had already gone home, and what remained at the Pine Valley meet were younger guys with an appreciation for both domestic and imported cars. Several gearheads wandered over to the JDM section to check out rides they don’t see very often.
There were plenty of American cars from the F&F movies at the car meet, including a Grand National like the one Dom drove in the fuel heist scene in ‘Fast Five’, plus a mid-’60s Chevy Impala like the one Tej Parker drove in the same film.
Twenty-five years after ‘The Fast and the Furious’ first hit theatres, the movie can still do something remarkable: get people out of their houses, into their cars and together in a parking lot. What started as a simple anniversary screening at the Colossus turned into an impromptu car meet, then a nighttime cruise to another gathering of gearheads from a completely different corner of car culture.
The movie may be 25 years old, but on Friday night in Woodbridge, the culture it helped create looked very much alive.