Sources: Wikidata · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Universal Pictures released The Fast and the Furious in 2001, a modestly budgeted street racing picture that became a cultural detonator, launching one of the highest grossing franchises in cinema history. Built on illegal drag racing culture, undercover cop plotting, and a crew bound by loyalty over blood, it introduced audiences to a world of nitrous, muscle cars, and family as a creed. Its success reshaped the action genre for two decades and made stars of its ensemble cast.
This cell preserves Dominic Toretto, played by Vin Diesel, the character whose presence anchors the entire saga that followed. Collectors seek him out because he is the franchise's gravitational center, the origin point before nine sequels expanded his mythology. A cell simply bearing his name and likeness represents the character in his purest introductory form, unattached to any single scene description, standing as a piece of the film's founding identity rather than a moment of plot. It is a marker of where the saga's legend began.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of The Fast and the Furious (2001).
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame visible on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges; spacing appears even and the punched corners are rounded and cleanly cut.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible along the bottom edge, showing a dual bilateral waveform pattern consistent with an analog stereo track; Dolby Digital data blocks appear in the inter-perforation gaps on the bottom edge.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read manufacturer codes or key numbers.
Base & colour
Base carries a slight blue-cyan tint typical of modern safety stock; the dye image reads warm amber against a dense black, with no visible fading or colour shift.
Projection history
No splices, cue marks or significant scratches are visible in this capture.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames of a single shot, consistent with a theatrical release print of the film on record.
Era check
The combination of a dual bilateral analog optical track with Dolby Digital inter-perforation data blocks is consistent with a year-2001 theatrical release print, when that hybrid soundtrack format was standard.
Read from the original intake capture shown below. Observations only — film is authenticated, not graded.
This original motion picture film element has been examined and authenticated by Crown Grading in partnership with National Film Vault, and encapsulated for archival preservation.
Why so little survivesRelease prints were leased to theaters, not sold. When the run ended they went back to the distributor to be destroyed, and most were. What collectors hold today came from the prints that escaped that order, and no new 35mm prints of these films are being struck.
CROWN SERIAL 000062864
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
