Vroom! Vroom!! The gunshot explodes in the air, and the race has begun! The film series The Fast and the Furious captivates audiences worldwide with its intense, illegal street racing in Tokyo, Los Angeles, and the Dominican Republic.

On this day, April 3, in 2009, the fourth film in The Fast and the Furious series, Fast & Furious, debuted in theaters across the United States. It accumulated $72.5 million on its opening weekend and became the highest-earning car-themed film in history, surpassing the Disney animated movie Cars.

The return of the original cast (Paul Walker and Vin Diesel) in Fast & Furious was a major factor in its success. The familiar faces appealed to many filmgoers and were used in marketing campaigns for the movie. Also since the film’s first debut in 2001, many The Fast and the Furious car-racing games have hit the shelves of GameStop and Target.