The “Fast & Furious” Franchise Will Wrap Up After Two More Films
Deadline is reporting that the finish line is in sight for the Fast & Furious movies. After 20+ years and a billion pieces of shattered auto glass, the Fast franchise will be going out with a bang. And then another bang. And then an even bigger bang followed by some barely coherent mumbling then a maudlin mid-tempo rap song about the importance of family as the credits roll then a final “BANG!” followed by an epic gag reel for the ages. Mark. My. Words. With the 9th installment in post-production, Universal Pictures announced that there are only two additional Fast movies left on the horizon in which to solve the franchise’s central mystery— Who sharted? Yes, the entire franchise is about diarrhea, what did you think it was about? The cars are metaphors, dummies!
First, a little housekeeping. We’re going to need somebody to go check on Tyrese. No volunteers? Fine, I’ll do it myself.
Hmm. Ok, well the good news is his book How to Get Out of Your Own Way was blurbed by Will Smith and has reached #1 in 17 different prisons. Let’s just focus on that, shall we? Deadline reports:
Universal Pictures is planning to wrap up its Fast & Furious core film franchise with two final movies that will bring to a close a franchise that has revved its way to become the highest-grossing movie series in the studio’s history. Justin Lin, who is in post-production on F9, is in talks to direct the final two installments and bring a saga that began nearly 20 years ago to a close.
It’s early days on when this will begin production but it seems likely they will tell a big story over two films that will focus on franchise patriarch Vin Diesel and bring back Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Jordana Brewster, Nathalie Emmanuel and Sung Kang.
It’s a real testament to the power of horsepower that a humble film about a gang of car thieves and an undercover LAPD officer doing donuts in the streets, as is 2001s The Fast and The Furious, would eventually go on to spawn multiple sequels in which Academy Award-winning actors Charlize Theron and Dame Helen Mirren are billed under Ludacris! America, it’s a helluva drug. And I mean that in the best possible way, heart brimming with patriotism. As previously reported, both Charlize and Dame Helen will appear in Fast9, but we don’t know their f8 going forward. It’s also unknown if Jason Statham and Vin’s once and (future, fingers crossed) foe The Rock will be crossing back over from their Hobbes & Shaw spinoffs for the final two Fast films.
They are just beginning to put the final two vehicles together, but the natural speculation will be to wonder whether Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham — core castmembers who peeled off for the F&F spinoff Hobbs & Shaw after Johnson and Diesel had a falling out — will be back for the finale. Johnson and Diesel might never be fast friends, but there is an opportunity to pull off the motorhead’s answer to Marvel’s Avengers, a configuration that might include Wonder Woman‘s Gal Gadot, also part of the ensemble earlier in her career.
The Fast franchise plus the first H&S have already earned Universal over $5.7 billion, which is more than the Jurassic Park movies have earned (I’d normally take a shot at Chris Pratt here but I hear he’s very fragile right now). And it’s given us as a nation a new framework in which to view our fellow man (and if we complain loudly enough, women too). After all, the Fast ethos is and has always been about the importance of chosen family and then fighting with them, both onscreen and off, all while earning millions of dollars for destroying property. That’s the #Fast4Lyfe way.
Pic: Wenn.com