Here's how Mission: Impossible 3 became to its franchise what Tokyo Drift is to Mission: Impossible movie series has since sold itself on Cruise being some kind of special effect in himself, where in addition to featuring involving stories and great characters, audiences have come to expect Cruise in some jaw-dropping stunt setpiece.
The franchise has been going from strength to strength, with the sixth movie Mission: Impossible 3 - where Thandiwe Newton's Nyah didn't return - received good reviews, it became the lowest grossing of the series.
This led to Cruise breaking a long relationship with Paramount, as the studio placed the blame for the sequel's underperformance on him. When it came time for a fourth movie, Paramount was actively pushing for Cruise's Hunt to retire during the story and the torch to Jeremy Renner's Brandt. That didn't happen, as Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol reinvigorated the series and Cruise as a major star. Mission: Impossible 3 is rarely considered the best of the series, but it's aged well and introduced story beats that continued to resonate throughout later movies. In that sense, it's similiar to The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift, another important threequel that arrived in 2006 that nearly spelled the end of its series, only to retroactively become one of its most referenced entries.
Mission: Impossible 3 set up several elements that informed the series moving forward. It humanized Ethan Hunt, making it clear he had a personal life outside the IMF and introduced his wife Julia (Michelle Monaghan). In contrast to the first two outings, M: I 3 saw Hunt as less of a one-man show and he relied on help from his team, while it also featured the first appearance of Simon Pegg's fan-favorite Benji. In later sequels, it became clear Ethan could never have a normal family life despite wanting it, with Fallout - which has an incredible bathroom fight - exploring the emotional impact of his marriage failing and the effect it had on Julia's life too. Benji evolved into a full-on field agent and is almost unrecognizable from his appearance in the third movie, while Ethan working with a team has become a core part of the series formula.
The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift, on the other hand, didn't feature any returning cast - aside from Vin Diesel in a small cameo - and tried to move in a new direction. The movie was a box-office disappointment too with later entries returning to the original characters. However, the events of Tokyo Drift played a huge role in later sequels, from the decision to mess with the timeline to keep Sung Kang's Han around to later reconning his death to involve F9. Outside of Han, it introduced Lucas Black's Sean, who is now a part of Dom's crew. Both Mission: Impossible 3 and Tokyo Drift are lesser loved outings, but they still played key roles in shaping their respective franchises.
