<Tr> <Th> Budget </Th> <Td> Total (8 films): $1,009,000,000 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Box office </Th> <Td> Total (8 films): $5,137,244,781 </Td> </Tr> <P> The Fast and the Furious (also known as Fast & Furious) is an American franchise based on a series of action films that is largely concerned with illegal street racing and heists, and includes material in various other media that depicts characters and situations from the films . Distributed by Universal Pictures, the series was established with the 2001 film titled The Fast and the Furious; this was followed by seven sequels, two short films that tie into the series, and as of May 2017, it has become Universal's biggest franchise of all time, currently the sixth highest - grossing film series of all time with a combined gross of over $5 billion . The ninth installment of the franchise is set to be released on April 19, 2019 . </P> <P> The film is based on an article, titled "Racer X", about New York street clubs that race Japanese cars late at night, although the film is set primarily in Los Angeles . While elite street racer and ex-convict Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his crew: Jesse (Chad Lindberg), Leon (Johnny Strong), Vince (Matt Schulze) and Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez), are under suspicion of stealing expensive electronic equipment by hijacking moving trucks, Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) is an undercover police officer who attempts to find out who exactly is stealing the equipment . He works for FBI agent Bilkins (Thom Barry) and LAPD Sgt . Tanner (Ted Levine). </P>

When was the first fast and furious movie released