Car chases and vehicular destruction have been a staple of the film industry since the first cars were invented. Every action movie fan loves a good car chase, especially if it ends with one or more of the cars bursting into flames or crashing into buildings.
In most cases, movies destroy just a handful of cars. However, some films take it a bit too far. Some moviemakers have hundred-million-dollar budgets to work with, part of which they spend on the destruction of cars. Let's explore ten movies that mangled an astonishing amount of cars. Beware, if you've not watched these movies, there might be a few spoilers.
10 Bullitt (1968) - 80 Cars
Steve McQueen starred in multiple fantastic movies during his career, but none of them are as revered as Bullitt. The main reason why this film will always be a classic is that it had one of the greatest car chase scenes in history, despite being filmed more than five decades ago.
In the movie, McQueen drives his green 1968 Ford Mustang in Francisco while being chased by hitmen in a 1968 Charger. The ensuing carnage left more than 80 cars destroyed. Interestingly, one of the Mustangs McQueen drove in the film was discovered abandoned in a barn a few years ago and was restored.
9 Ronin (1998) - 80 Cars
Ronin is a 1998 action thriller film directed by John Frankenheimer starring the legendary Robert De Niro. The film is about a group of former special agents hired to steal a mysterious briefcase.
Ronin was noted for its fantastic car chases in Paris and Nice. The director — who was a former amateur racing driver — hired 300 stunt drivers and former F1 racing driver Jean-Pierre Jarier to create an epic eight-minute car chase scene that left 80 cars destroyed.
8 Gone In 60 Seconds (1974) - 93 Cars
If the first thing that popped into your mind when you read the title was Nicolas Cage, you're probably too young to know that Cage's film was a remake of an absolute classic. The original Gone in 60 Seconds, which premiered in 1974, is arguably better.
The movie is about a gang of car thieves that were challenged to steal 48 vehicles in a matter of days. The film destroyed 93 cars in a car chase scene that lasted for 40 minutes.
7 The Blues Brothers (2000) - 104 Cars
The Blues Brothers is a 1980 musical comedy based on the musical sketch "The Blues Brothers" on Saturday Night Live. We're not sure why a movie like this would have a car chase, but it had a superb one that left 103 cars wrecked.
The original film was so successful that a sequel was made in 2000. Although the sequel received negative reviews from critics, it also had a car chase that destroyed 104 cars, one more than the original.
6 G.I. Joe (2009) - 112 Cars
The first G.I. Joe film was a huge disappointment when it debuted in 2009, earning a 33% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It was criticized for having a razor-thin plot, and even though the combat scenes were great, they couldn't save it.
The only positive thing from the film is the automotive Armageddon that it had. A total of 112 cars were destroyed.
5 A Good Day To Die Hard (2013) - 132 Cars
The fifth installment of the Die Hard series hit the cinemas in 2013, and for action series fans, it didn't disappoint. Although he was clearly older than he was in the other movies, John McLane was still obliterating hundreds of bad guys on his own.
This time, though, the producers thought it was a good idea to add a few car wrecks into the mix. And by a few, we mean 132 cars. This cost the producers $8.5 million, but the movie was a Box Office hit, so they might just do it again.
4 The Junkman (1982) - 150 Cars
After director Henry B. Halicki destroyed 93 cars in his 1974 film Gone in 60 Seconds, he decided to do it all over again in his 1982 independent film The Junkman. However, unlike the 1974 film where he had a budget to work with, Halicki had to use his personal car collection, which included "Eleanor" - the 1971 Ford Mustang Sportsroof that starred in Gone in 60 Seconds.
By the time they finished filming The Junkman, 150 cars had been destroyed.
3 The Fast And Furious 5 (2011) - 250 Cars
The evolution of the Fast and Furious franchise has been intriguing to watch. What started as a street racing film has now evolved into one of the biggest action franchises ever, with a new installment coming out every two years or so.
As the budget for each film increases, the stunts have become a lot more extreme, wrecking hundreds of vehicles in the process. Fast Five destroyed 250 cars, but that's only a fraction of the more than 1,400 cars the franchise has reportedly destroyed in total.
2 The Matrix Reloaded (2003) - 300 Cars
After almost two decades, we are finally getting a new Matrix film. While everyone is excited, automakers are worried about what could happen. The reason for this is quite simple — the last Matrix film left 300 cars destroyed after just one long, high-speed chase.
General Motors reportedly provided all the cars, hoping to get some on-screen product placement. It's a surprise that the film wasn't called The Matrix: Recalled.
1 Transformers III: Dark Of The Moon (2011) - 532 Cars
Before The Avengers and the other Marvel superhero Movies took over, the Transformers franchise was the talk of the town. Everyone wanted to see giant alien robots turning into some of our favorite vehicles.
The third film — which still had Shia LaBeouf but not Megan Fox — was more destructive than any film before it. A record 532 cars were destroyed in fights involving giant robots, leaving some gearheads feeling sad. Thankfully, most of them were flood-damaged cars that would have ended up in scrapyards anyway.