The Hangover II and Thor rounded out the top three with Source Code, I Am Number Four, and Sucker Punch close behind. The theory is that those films are popular amongst tech-savvy males while the thought of downloading makes a girl’s head hurt.

Overall, downloads are down significantly from last year. Fast Five was downloaded 9.3 million times, but last year’s top spot belonged to Avatar with a download tally of 16.6 million. It can be argued that these numbers fell because of Hollywood’s war on piracy, or that films were just suckier than usual this year. It’s also possible that TorrentFreak fudged the numbers to get the heat of Hollywood and the anti-piracy bill they’re trying to push through off their backs. It’s what Dom and Brian would do.

1. “Fast Five“(Universal): 9.3 million

2. “The Hangover Part II“ (Warner Bros. / Legendary): 8.8 million

3. “Thor“ (Marvel/Paramount): 8.3 million

4. “Source Code“ (Summit / Vendome): 7.9 million

5. “I Am Number Four” (DreamWorks / Disney): 7.7 million

6. “Sucker Punch“ (Warner Bros. / Legendary): 7.2 million

7. “127 Hours“ (Fox Searchlight): 6.9 million

8. “Rango“ (Paramount): 6.5 million

9. “The King’s Speech“ (Weinstein Co.): 6.3 million

10. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2″ (Warner Bros.): 6 million

(LA Times)

If anyone has seen it, please let us know what you thought. Is it actually good, or merely something designed to hold a mouthbreather’s attention for an hour and forty minutes? I’m sorry. I just can’t help my prejudices. I’m was totally expecting a terrible heist movie, like the nine listed below.

Fast Five

In a departure from the street racing theme of the previous installments, Fast Five turns Vin Diesel and Paul Walker into master thieves. They band together with every tough guy, hot chick, and rapper to have previously driven a fast car in order to steal $100 million from a corrupt businessman. Really? Exactly $100 million. Are they robbing Dr. Evil?

The Perfect Score

Six failing students team up to secure their futures by stealing the SAT exam. All in all, it’s a pretty lazy comedy that puts too many of its gags on the shoulders of an unlikable version of a Hollywood interpretation of a stoned teenager. However, it does feature a pre-Avengers Scarlett Johannson in a leather bodysuit kicking guards in the face. This movie can see the future.

Stealing Harvard

Jason Lee and Tom Green star as hapless crooks attempting to steal enough money for a young girl’s college tuition. Subplots involve cross-dressing and a dog falling in love with Green before having its way with him. That guy and his stunts.

Ferrari F355

This fine automobile is one of the only Fast and Furious cars to appear in both The Fast and the Furious, and its sequel, 2 Fast 2 Furious. Driven by Neal Moritz, the Ferrari F355 has a top speed of 183 miles per hour, which definitely earns it the title of “fast,” if not “furious.” And the F355 if almost tailor-made for the street-racing depicted in the movie, since it has a “F1-style gearbox management system, taken directly from Formula 1 racing.

Mazda RX-7

The Mazda RX-7 is the other Fast and Furious car to appear in the first and second movies. And unlike the F-355, it was actually used in a race scene in both movies, albeit with a different color scheme in the sequel. If you’re interested in such things, the RX-7 was listed on Car and Driver magazine’s Ten Best list a total of five times, which is probably more than can be said with whatever you’re driving to work.

Dodge Charger

Probably the most famous Fast and Furious car, the Dodge Charger has been in a lot of movies besides the Fast and Furious series. Most famously, it appeared in perhaps the definitive “car movie,” Bullitt, starring Steve McQueen. (The bad guys drove it.)  But the Dodge Charger in The Fast and the Furious might also seem familiar to fans of The Dukes of Hazzard, since the model in the movie is the same as the infamous “General Lee.” How are them Fast and Furious boys gonna get out of this one?

Nissan Skyline GTR

This Fast and Furious car makes an appearance in the most recent entry in the series Fast Five. Inspired by the Nissa Skyline range, it’s nicknamed “Godzilla,” presumably because of the ease in which it can be made to rampage through downtown Tokyo. When the Fast & Furious was first released the Skyline was not legally available for import into the USA, which only added to the cool factor.

Nissan GTR R35

This is the latest automobile to earn the GTR badge (although the first legally available in the USA), and it’s also one of the latest Fast and Furious cars, also appearing in Fast Five. And unlike some of the other Fast and Furious cars, this is a new model. It might make a good birthday present for someone special—or if it’s out of your price range, maybe a couple Fast and Furious DVDs.

The other new release to crack the top five was Priest, the Paul Bettany-hunts vampires-in-3D movie, which snagged the number four spot with a weekend gross of $14.5 million.Fast Five continued its triumph with a number 3 $19.5 million gross, and Rio continued its reign of terror at number 5, with $8 million. Who says CGI parrots can’t be funny? (Box Office Mojo)

“I wouldn’t be surprised if there is some Oscar talk around this. I don’t know, maybe I’m just biting off what some guy from Channel 7 thought. But sooner or later, people are gonna say, ‘Wait a minute, just because they are for the working class doesn’t mean they’re not great.’”

New ‘Fast Five’ Trailer Knees Gravity In The Taint From Behind

It opens with the prison break suggested at the end of Fast & Furious. Then in Rio, Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) and Mia Toretto (Jordanna Brewster) go on a run with their old L.A. racer Vince (Matt Schulze). Dominic (Vin Diesel) shows up on the heist, but the deal goes bad and DEA agents get killed. So the feds send in Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and his boys from the Diplomatic Security Services to bust them.

People make fun of the Fast and Furious movies for being light on plot, but the problem with Fast Five is that there’s too much plot. I should have known something was wrong when they showed the prison break. The stunt is straightforward and not as cool as if it were implied, and it’s got nothing on the pre-title tanker sequence from Fast & Furious.

'Fast Five' Macho Quiz

The first heist has some good moments like ripping open the side of a train for Dom’s grand entrance, and Brian does some Keanu-worthy jumps from/onto moving vehicles. Then they start taking apart the GTO the Brazilian gang was after, because they’re still expert mechanics. Here begins a lot of explanation about a chip and Reyes’s (Joaquim de Almeida) drug money.

Hobbs busts onto the scene with charismatic bravado. He asks a character, “Am I right?” and when she agrees, he replies, “Of cours I am.” He walks through a gang of Brazilian gunmen on pure attitude and tosses official papers aside, because he gets it. This is the job just because it is. A rooftop chase between the DSS, the Brazilians and Dom’s gang balances three elements with complicated movements, but it’s never quite awesome.

From here it’s a solid hour of all exposition. Dom and Brian get the team from previous sequels back together. Roman (Tyrese Gibson) and Tej (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges) help with the technical and Gisele (Gal Gadot) and pre-Tokyo Drift Han (Sung Kang) handle intel. It’s nice to see everyone again but they waste a lot of time on stupid scenes like Roman fast talking a guard. That’s a shame because he was funny in 2 Fast 2 Furious.

6 photosElsa Pataky

Dom maps out Reyes’s entire operation. Then the DSS re-figures it out on their own. Dom and Brian finally go to a street race party, complete with Brazilian T&A, and they skip the race. I get the joke that we just assume they won, but when there’s been no action for a while that’s a flat out failure. THIS is the race you leave implied? Instead we see the crew make practice runs for the heist they’re planning against Reyes.

We finally get a quarter mile race about 80 minutes into the movie. I think they saved all their fury for the climactic sequence, which is good. There’s certainly not enough Hobbs. I appreciate all the talk about family but all those plot scenes weren’t building any character. You do get to see Diesel and The Rock fight, about as cathartic as Jet Li vs. Dolph Lundgren in The Expendables.

Because I was anticipating it so highly, Fast Five becomes my first official disappointment of the summer, and that makes me FURIOUS.

Above is an interactive trailer for Fast Five. You click on stuff and info videos pop-up. There’s also a game element, where you try to unlock safes or something. The point is: clicking on trailers is fun. Click, click, click. Fun. You’ll see Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Paul Walker and Jordana Brewster in extended clips and behind-the-scenes videos. You’ll also learn a lot more about the cars. Of course, that’s if you bother to watch the info videos, and aren’t just rapid-clicking to find the vaults, like I was doing. I play to win.

Fast Five rolls into theaters April 29, 2011.

If you have questions for any of the stars of the film, or director Justin Lin, please leave them in the comment section. I’ll be interviewing Tyrese, Ludacris, Matt Schulze, Gal Gadot, Elsa Pataky, and Sung Kang as well. Since this film is packed to the brim with masculinity, maybe you have some “man” questions you’d like to get answered. Like, how does a real man get his steak cooked, or what’s the best scotch to drink while contemplating your awesomeness?

You’ll also be able to watch a streaming live broadcast of the world premiere of the film on Friday night. More info on that coming later. But for now, I gotta catch a flight to Brazil, and brush up on my Portuguese. Tchau.

That’s “bye,” right?

Now, in this poster for Woddy Allen’s latest, Midnight in Paris, there are no cool cars of any kind and Vin Diesel is literally NOWHERE on the poster. In fact, the only person on this poster is Owen Wilson, who has been proven by scientists to be the exact opposite of Vin Diesel. Also, you’ll notice a pretty strong Starry Night motif in the sky. As best I can tell in the Fast 5 poster, there are zero nods or references to Van Gogh paintings. However, if you should see one, please put it in the comments. In fact, the only thing these movies have in common is my desire never to see either one. (Playlist)

Below is the new poster for Fast Five, the latest Fast and the Furious movie to run-over the title continuity of the series like so much roadkill. At least the other movies had “furious” in the title. Will this entry be nearly as “furious” as the first four? With Vin Diesel Paul Walker and Dwayne “Smell My Cooking” Johnson returning, all signs point 2 yes.

Another sign of this movie’s furiousity: according to a recent interview with director Justin Lin, they shot all the action sequences practically. So when you see a bunch of trucks crash into a train, those were real trucks, a real train, and the whole thing was really expensive. Those aren’t woosy CG wireframe trucks assembled in the Troniverse.

However, I hear the talking scenes will be processed through the program Actor Effects, so the dramatic moments are smoother and also tolerable. (JoBlo and IGN)

The franchise, after middling succes with the second and third entries, enjoyed a renaissance with Fast and Furious, in no small part due to the return of Vin Diesel. That entry grossed more than even the original, so it’s no wonder that they’re going back to that well again. And again. And probably again after that.

Since Vin Diesel has been an integral piece to the TFATF franchise, his role has been upped to “actor/producer” in Fast 5, and it’s looking like he will carry that title into 6 Fast 6 Furious, or whatever the hell they’re going to call it.

If that’s not enough TFATF dish for you, there’s more. The Rock has told Collider that he is anticipating a spin-off for his character as well, with Moritz participating. Wouldn’t it be easier if Universal just renamed themselves “Fast/Furious Studios” and issued weekly press releases?

The plan was to have Vin release this to his 20 million Facebook fans first, and the Paul Walker, Ludacris, and everyone else would post it to their own pages. Vin always goes first. In trailers and in line for lunch. Dude won’t eat chili mac at room temperature.

Now kiss him.

Universal has released this steamy first pic from their upcoming romantic comedy, Fast Five, starring Vin Diesel and The Rock. Man, can you feel the sexual tension between these two? Move over, You’ve Got Mail!

In the film, The Rock plays a cop trying to take down street racers Diesel Paul Walker, and Tyrese Gibson. But will his car be bad-ass? Yes. His car will be bad-ass. He’ll actually be behind the wheel of Gurkha, which is like the car that Humvees fear. So to recap, Fast Five features The Rock dressed like John Travolta, sweaty men standing nose to nose, and really big Hummers. Did The Fast And The Furious franchise suddenly change demographics? (USA Today)

Those hoping to see Eric Christian Olsen’s head bitten off by a Norwegian’s open chest cavity will have to update their calendars. Universal has removed The Thing prequel from their 2011 calendar for the time being. The fifth installment in The Fast And The Furious franchise, Fast Five, is being moved up to take its place with an April 29th release. This will allow Universal to kick off their summer movie season a little earlier than planned. It also ensure Fast Five a bigger opening by pulling it out of the X-Men: First Class / Green Lantern sandwich it was originally squeezed into.

Though The Thing hasn’t found a new release date, I think this is a good thing for fans. Whether it lands in August or the Halloween season, at least filmmakers will have more time to fine-tune the film in an effort to diminish the scrutiny it is subject to from the purists. The move was mainly motivated because the gloomy tone wouldn’t play well with summer audiences. It makes sense that Universal wouldn’t want to put something sad on screens during that season, but have they never see Paul Walker act? (LA Times)

It’s time once agin to gather round the computin’ box and gather some freshly-branded casting news. YAWWWWW!!!!

FAST FIVE – will be gaining one Ludacris and one The Rock according to Twitter all-star Tyrese Gibson. “Major shouts to Vin Diesel Paul Walker, & Dewayne [sic] “Rock” Johnson!! “Fast & Furious Five” Let’s get em again!!” Yes. He misspelled The Rock’s name but please keep in mind, he typed this with his ab muscles. Impressed, now? (Collider)

RISE OF THE APES – has cast Brian Cox to play a villianous dean general Robert McKee owner of a primate research facility. When reached for comment, James Cromwell said, "Aw, dammit." (/Film)

MONEYBALL – "Parks and Recreation" shoeshine man, Chris Pratt, will spend his hiatus from the show portraying a catcher whose hurty elbow leads him to become a batting phenom. Just like Rookie Of the Year (note: nothing like Rookie Of the Year.) (Collider)

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_{"I stole it from your closet after the sex we had together."}

We all knew this day would come, we were just waiting for the title. Vin Diesel Paul Walker, and director Justin Lin are back for another Fast (fill it in) Furious, and they’re naming this one after an instant scratchers lottery ticket. Fast Five, the fourth sequel in the franchise, promises more car chases, car crashes, Diesel and Walker disagreeing then agreeing on a plan of action, and latina cleavage.

Fast & Furious made over $500 million at the box office so it’s not surprising that Universal is rushing another one into production. I’m sure it didn’t take long to get the key players together. An exec had to go over to Vin Diesel’s place and get his okay, then stop by the dumpster outside where Paul Walker was eating breakfast. He threw a banana peel and scampered off, solidifying his involvement. (Variety)