There is a long and storied history of the Fast & Furious movies getting incredible titles for the Japanese audience. The first film, The Fast and the Furious, was called Wild Speed, which doesn’t have quite the alliterative punch of the original, but is still significantly more fun. “What movie are you seeing this weekend?” “WILD SPEED, MOTHERF*CKER.” So we’re one for one.
The next two films, 2 Fast 2 Furious and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, got Japanese titles that kept things relatively uniform even though their American counterparts were all over the map: Wild Speed X2 and Wild Speed X3: Tokyo Drift. Fine. Nothing Earth-shattering, but fine. Things really began to pick up in 2009, however, when the fourth film, Fast & Furious, got title Wild Speed MAX. Where does one go from Wild Speed MAX, you ask? Simple. To Wild Speed MEGA MAX, which was the title of 2011’s Brazilian heist romp, Fast Five. And most recently, Fast & Furious 6 was called Wild Speed EURO MISSION, which was actually much more accurate and and helpful than the American title.
This brings us to today, and the next film in the franchise, Furious 7. Let’s check in with IMDb, shall we?
Wild Speed: Sky Mission.
WILD SPEED: SKY MISSION.
Yes.
YESSSSSSS.
Wild Speed: Sky Mission is such a great title for a movie. I would see a movie called that even it wasn’t part of the Fast & Furious franchise. Even if I knew nothing about it, for that matter. I’d walk up to the ticket counter and be like, “Yes, one ticket for The Aveng-… wait, does that say Wild Speed: Sky Mission? My God. One for Wild Speed: Sky Mission. In IMAX. And 3D. And I’d like a nurse to run an IV so I can put it straight into my veins. And some Sour Patch Kids. Thank you.”
