<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 , heists and espionage , 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 spin - off film is set to be released on July 26 , 2019 . </P>
when did first fast and furious come out
2001