Just when you thought the social-media hype around Abu Dhabi’s role in Furious 7 seemed to have finally died down – after more than a year, from the build-up to the location filming last year, through to the cinema release in May this year – it was rekindled when the makers returned to Abu Dhabi a few weeks ago to promote the film’s home-video release on September 15.
The film was not the first Hollywood blockbuster to shoot in the UAE, with Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Deliver Us from Evil and Syriana laying the groundwork. But given its incredible box-office success, it is the highest profile movie yet, and could provide the greatest legacy for filmmaking in the country – at least until Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens comes out in December. Furious 7, the seventh entry in the Fast and Furious franchise starring Vin Diesel and the late Paul Walker, is now the fifth- highest grossing film of all time at US$1.51bn (Dh5.5bn).
The exposure the movie gave the emirate around the world is indisputable. About 30 minutes of the action takes place in and around the capital. It includes one of the most daring stunts ever seen in the series, in which a car crashes out of an upper-floor window in one of the Etihad Towers buildings, flying through the air and smashing through the window to land in another of the towers – and then repeating the jump to a third tower for good measure.
It’s a spectacular stunt, albeit one that was actually filmed in Atlanta, but it is the film’s overall legacy – which will live on long after the stunt dims in the memory – that the capital’s movie industry bosses will be interested in.
Original article by Chris Newbould
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Abu Dhabi is fast becoming a favourite location for film crews
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