Not many franchises can say that the fifth film in the series opened to its strongest opening yet. But that is exactly what Fast Five can boast. With the exception of The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift, every film in the franchise has opened stronger than the previous. 2009’s Fast and Furious opened to a strong $70 million in its opening weekend, and it looks like Fast Five will hit around $80 million.

The one thing that does hurt the franchise, however, is the films don’t have strong legs and don’t make much money after the opening weekend. Fast and Furious finished domestically at $155 million, which would be a big number if the film didn’t open so high. With Fast Five at a budget of around $125 million, Universal needs to find a way to draw crowds for the next three to four weeks to push the film into the $200-$250 million mark.

Another question must be asked as well: with an opening of $80 million in a franchise five movies deep, how many more can they make? Deadline has already reported that the franchise will move from more of a street racing series focusing on the cars to a series focused on the heist. As evidenced by Fast Five, that can work, but will it work forever?

What do you guys think? Did you like Fast Five and how many more of these films do you think can be made? Sound off!