The Fast & Furious franchise became what it is today — a billion-dollar box-office juggernaut, with seven sequels and at least two more to come — in part because the movies embraced their absurdity. They drive cars through skyscrapers, make 100-foot leaps into ravines, and drive bank vaults through Rio, stripping themselves of all self-seriousness and adherence to the laws of physics. But beneath the nonsensical stunts and the utter disappearance of the threat of death, when everything gets boiled down, the Fast movies remain focused on a family of misfit thrill-seekers who sit around a table drinking beer — almost always Corona — together well after the sun goes down. That truth layers emotion behind every stunt and every illogical plot development and engenders loyalty from the audience.

Fast Furious Bottle - Etsy UK

During Race Wars, Letty Ortiz is pit against a male racer who immediately believes she shouldn't be racing because she is female. However, Letty convinces him to put his money where his mouth is and they both race. Although the male racer is gleeful as he seems to be winning, Letty activates her NOS and easily surpasses him, the other racer unable to catch up due to him not having any NOS. Nitrous oxide ( N₂O) is a gas commonly referred to as "nitrous" or simply NOS in The Fast and the Furious series. Notable uses of NOS in the series As a managing partner at Apex Marketing Group, Eric Smallwood analyzes the value of product placement and strategic advertising for both brands and production companies. "I’m amazed at how it was used," he says of Corona’s placement in the Fast franchise. "The verbal mentions — it’s very overt." The elephant in the 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS is the fact that moviemaking is a business, and product placement — even really good product placement — is almost always about a capitalistic exchange, rather than world-building. Brands pay a production company to be prominently featured in a film. The exchange manifests in varying ways — from Heineken partially funding the production budget for 2015’s Spectre with a product placement deal to Oliver Stone getting a free pair of boots for showing a certain brand name in Natural Born Killers. As Cohen noted, the initial deal between The Fast and the Furious and Corona was small and rather unofficial: a few cases of free beer in exchange for an overt mention of the brand name.

And yet, according to everyone we spoke to, Corona doesn’t even pay to be in the movies. "On all the stuff I’ve ever done, I don’t believe there ever was [a deal with Corona]," says Morgan. "The truth is we write it in there. We talk about it. It’s what it’s going to be, and not for any business reasons. It’s part of Dom’s character. It just is." They were one of the companies that was smart enough to get in with us at the ground floor," Cohen adds. Whether the company actually foresaw the success of Fast or just didn’t see the point in denying any movie’s outright endorsement of their product, the decision to allow Corona to be featured in The Fast and the Furious has developed into a profitable one. Not to be confused with The Fast and the Furious , Fast & Furious is the franchise's fourth mainline film, though it precedes Tokyo Drift (film number three) in the chronology. It's a sequel to Fast 1, set five years later, with Dom and Brian teaming up once again to take down a drug lord and avenge the “death” of Letty. Dom is ultimately arrested and sentenced, though en route to the prison, Brian, Mia, and Tego Leo (Tego Calderon) are seen intercepting the prison bus. Fast & Furious also introduces Gal Gadot’s Gisele Yashar. It was the Wonder Woman actor's first major film role. It’s been an honor to have Corona Extra play a part in pop culture history with the Fast and the Furious franchise over the years," a spokesperson for the company told The Ringer in an official statement. "While we had no formal agreement with the production company, we were aware of the incorporation of Corona into several of the films." ‘Fast & Furious,’ 2009 (Universal Pictures)

Fast and Furious Water Bottle - Etsy

As Letty races Dom in the streets of London in Fast & Furious 6, she uses NOS inside her Jensen to take the lead. Although she uses it too early, Dom activates and uses his NOS in his Charger Daytona to take the lead and win the race. The second of the series’ two short films, Los Bandoleros takes place between Fast 1 and Fast 4, though its exact placement on the timeline is never specified. Written and directed by Vin Diesel, Los Bandoleros is set in the Dominican Republic, where Dom is lying low after the events of Fast 1. In its 20-minute runtime, the film manages to cover an oil war, corrupt politics, and a prison break, culminating in a romantic reunion between Dom and Letty. Chronologically, it’s also the first time we see Sung Kang’s death-defying Han Lue.The Turbo Charged Prelude for 2 Fast 2 Furious shows how Brian O’Conner, on the run from law enforcement, gets from LA to Miami before the events of 2 Fast 2 Furious. The six-minute short film features no dialogue and a handful of races. It’s nonessential viewing, but it’s here nonetheless. Mr. Nobody is this mysterious guy — nobody knows who he is — so the idea was to bring Dom to the office and start layering in a little bit of trust and familiarity," Morgan says. "And you can talk about, ‘Hey Dom, here’s what I know you did with that car,’ but I was looking for one thing to put in there to give the audience a wink. We played that for a joke, but also, this is how well this guy knows Dom. It’s just a fun, character-y moment."