Riding Shotgun: sponsored by Dodge, the world premiere of ‘Fast Five’ gave millions of fans the best seat in the house, virtually.

Ladies and Gentlemen, start your engines. On Friday, April 15, Universal Pictures and NowLive brought fans the virtual world premiere of the latest installment in that revved up franchise, Fast Five, directly from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Sponsored by Dodge.  Universal and the high-tech people of NowLive have embarked on a journey to produce and stream entertainment’s top live events, streaming cross the web, mobile and iOs devices, and in this case with Fast Five, projecting the world premiere on the big screen, in 10 theaters across the United States.

Cast members Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Matt Schulze, Sung Kang, Elsa Pataky, and Dwayne Johnson were joined by the film’s director, Justin Lin.

“Fans of The Fast and the Furious franchise have grown closer to our characters with each successive movie,” said Doug Neil, Senior Vice President of Digital Marketing at Universal Pictures.  “We want to thank the audience for their unflagging support with a global premiere event that brought the cast into the lives of any fan with access to the web.”

Make that a ‘fast and furious’ fan base 4.5 million strong, just on Facebook alone.

“Our goal is simple: to power and stream the most premium live content on the web in the most entertaining way possible for the fans,” said Sara Bordo, President and Co-Founder of NowLive.  “We were so excited to bring Fast Five across multiple platforms and in front of the true fans of the franchise.”

Watch clips and highlights of the star-studded world premiere HERE.

Fast Five opens in theatres, and in IMAX in the U.S. on April 29, 2011

Fast Five official website: http://www.fastfivemovie.com/

NowLive movie premiere streams: http://www.nowlive.com/