The eagerly awaited The Fate of the Furious – the eighth instalment in the popular movie series – hits cinemas today. The UAE has a special relationship with the franchise, not just because of our collective love of fast cars. Several scenes of Furious 7 were shot in Abu Dhabi, including the memorable sequence in which a Dubai-built Lykan Hypersport supercar made a gravity-defying leap from one of the Etihad Towers to another.
This week, actor Tyrese Gibson received a warm welcome when he attended a red-carpet screening at the Mall of the Emirates.
The remarkable thing about The Fast and Furious is that, unlike the Harry Potter or Marvel movies, it wasn't designed to become a long-running series. The movies kept getting made because fans around the world like them – to the tune of $4 billion (Dh14.7bn) in ticket sales so far. That may be due to the appeal of the stories, the cars, the cast led by the charismatic Vin Diesel or the exotic locations. Whatever the reason, more power to them.