Fast and Furious hits Cannes midnight

Cannes is making room for muscle cars. The 2026 festival has added a special midnight screening of The Fast and the Furious, the 2001 movie that started Universal’s giant franchise, and it’s not some side-room tribute. It’s happening at the Grand Théâtre Lumière on Wednesday, May 13 at 11:45 p.m. — the festival’s biggest stage, in its most showy after-dark slot. (festival-cannes.com) ### Why is this a real Cannes story? Because Cannes does midnight screenings all the time, but this one is different. The original April lineup listed five midnight titles — Quentin Dupieux’s Full Phil, Marion (festival-cannes.com)n. That makes it feel less like routine scheduling and more like a deliberate statement. (festival-cannes.com) ### What exactly is screening? Not a new sequel. Not a reboot tease. It’s the 2001 original — the Rob Cohen film set in Los Angeles street-racing culture, with Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto and Paul Walker as Brian O’Conner. Cannes is framing it as a 25th-anniversary event, even though the movie first opened o(festival-cannes.com 1)(festival-cannes.com 2) ### Who’s actually showing up? That’s part of why this matters. Cannes says Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, producer Neal H. Moritz, and Meadow Walker will attend. Meadow Walker’s presence gives the event an obvious emotional charge, because Paul Walker remains central to how fans remember the series. So this is not just a catalog screening — it’s built like a reunion. (festival-cannes.com) ### Why would Cannes want this? Because Cannes still likes a little Hollywood flash — but this year it didn’t land a giant studio launch in the usual way. A midnight screening of Fast solves that problem neatly(festival-cannes.com)ctacle. (deadline.com) ### Why this franchise in particular? Scale. The 11-film Fast saga has made more than $7 billion worldwide, and Cannes itself calls it Universal’s most-profitable and longest-running franchise. That matters because the festival isn’t just honoring a cult favorite. It’s putting one of modern studio cinema’s biggest commercial machines inside one of film culture’s most elite spaces. (festival-cannes.com) ### Is there also a business angle here? Absolutely. Universal has already said the next chapter, Fast Forever, is set for March 17, 2028. So even if this Cannes event is framed as a birthday party, it also keeps the brand warm. Nostalgia does real work in franchise management — especially when the gap between releases gets longer. (festival-cannes.com) ### So what’s the bigger read? Cannes is reminding everyone that “serious cinema” and mass-audience movie culture are not separate planets. A festival that still champions auteurs is also willing to hand its midnig(festival-cannes.com)n and signal — a way to add movie-star electricity, honor a durable franchise, and show that populist nostalgia now belongs on the Croisette too.