The first two Transporter movies earned more than $50 million worldwide.
The Transporter is back and that means more exotic cars, manic chases, spectacular stunts and fiery crashes.
Starring British actor Jason Statham from Snatch and, of course, the first two Transporter movies, Transporter 3 takes the high-speed action right across Europe.
In this film, Statham, as Frank Martin, is forced to transport two bulky bags and a young Ukrainian woman from Marseille to Odessa.
In Transporter 1 & 2, most of the action scenes lasted 30-40 seconds. Transporter 3 features almost unlimited stunts.
Bond film stunt expert Raacemi Julienne said they shot all the car chase scenes at high speed rather than speeding it up later.
"All the car chases are filmed at real speed, without models, to capture the pace and inertia of a car going into a spin," he said.
Unlike most modern action movies, 3D was used sparingly with most stunts being performed on set.
"That's where you have to come up with new ideas," Julienne said.
"How do you jump a car on to a train without it smashing up? How do you slide it down the side of truck?
"Every day was a different challenge and most of the solutions were dreamed up on the spot. That's what made the shoot so exciting and such fun."
Most of the chase scenes were structured like action symphonies, which resulted in crumpled fenders, high-risk chopper flying and even the use of a purpose-built quad bike in the streets of Marseille.
The car star of the action flick is the six-litre, 331kW, W12-powered Audi A8 quattro luxury saloon, driven by Statham's character; at one stage on two wheels between two trucks on a high-speed Autobahn.
Although how he manages to do so many handbrake slides with an electronic parking brakes defies logic.
The A8 also replicates the spiral jump first seen in the 1974 James Bond film, The Man With The Golden Gun.
Transporter3 also features a cornucopia of vehicles including an Audi Q7 SUV; BMW 3 and 5 Series; several Citroens and Renaults; a Hummer H1; Kenworth, DAF and Scania trucks; a Kia Cee'd; Range Rover Sport; Lada Samara and Peugeot police cars; and even a tractor that pulls the A8 out of a river.
Statham is a bit of an Audi fan owning an old RS6 Audi and waiting on the release of the RS6 V10 twin turbo with 426kW of power.
The rugged action flick actor with a background in martial arts did most of his own stunts in the first two Transporter movies, including car chases, scuba diving sequences and fights.
Statham is no debutante to car action films having also appeared in last year's Death Race, which was a reworking of the 1975 film Death Race 2000 featuring David Carradine.
Audi is also no debutante to the silver screen, having featured in the previous two Transporter movies, Ronin, I Robot, Mission Impossible 2, About a Boy, Legally Blond 2, Hitman and The Matrix 2.
It also starred its R8 supercar in last year's action film, Iron Man, with Robert Downey Jr who arrived at the Australian premiere in a silver R8. Supporting roles in Iron Man were played by a S5 sports sedan and a Q7.
The first two Transporter movies earned more than $50 million worldwide.
Transporter3 hits the big screen on February 5.
