Film Director Justin Lin Rules the Box Office with ‘Fast & Furious’

You may have heard of film director Justin Lin when his revolutionary Asian American film Better Luck Tomorrow premiered. Lin’s latest project, the installment of Fast & Furious is decidedly less indie but ruled the box office being the #1 film a this weekend, bringing in over $72.5 million over the weekend, setting a record for April openings. But with a Rotten Tomatoes rating of around 24%, Fast & Furious is certainly not in the running for Best Picture anytime soon.

I had a chance to meet Justin Lin once while making the lecture circuit and promoting Finishing the Game. He discussed that he switched back-and-forth between his “passion projects” and directing typical Hollywood films, which helps paid the bills. And while some might consider this “selling out,” in the brutal world of film financing and production, a director has got to do what a director’s got to do. For Better Luck Tomorrow, Lin often cited the fact that he basically bet the farm and used 10 credit cards to produce the film he wanted to produce. So congrats to Justin Lin on winning the box office this weekend.