With a growing fanbase, the “Fast and Furious” franchise shows no signs of slowing down and it’s starting to expand into a full cinematic universe.
According to Variety, producer and franchise star Vin Diesel said that the FF team is in early stages of developing prequels and spin-offs with stories that go beyond the past “Furious” movies.
During an interview with Variety, Diesel was quoted as saying:
We’ve written out story lines for various characters…We’ve been playing with it for a long time. It’s a very rich property and we’re committed to treating it with a lot of class.
Universal Pictures Chairman Donna Langley also confirmed that there were talks about “ways to broaden the series’ reach”. He said:
We’re certainly in conversations about how we can expand the franchise now…It’s an ensemble cast and there’s room to bring characters in and out.
No word on what the prequels and spin-offs will centre on, but it was reported earlier in May that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who plays Diplomatic Security Service agent Luke Hobbs, may get his own standalone film.
Given the massive box office success of “Furious 7“, the ideas of developing prequels and spinoffs aren’t absurd at all.
If they move forward with the films, it will be one of the most successful movie franchises after the “Star Wars” franchise and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Universal Pictures may even enjoy a greater success with its planned cinematic universe based on its classic monsters such as The Wolfman and The Mummy.
But as of now, Universal is focusing on developing the 8th film that will be helmed by “Straight Outta Compton” helmer F. Gary Gray. In fact, there are 2 more sequels being planned as well.
Universal will “shift the emphasis” in the upcoming instalments of the franchise, with both Viesel and the studio promising that the movies will be different in tone from the previous films.
Universal Filmed Entertainment Group chairman Jeff Shell said:
You can’t keep having every movie have bigger and bigger stunts forever and ever and ever. Eventually you have to really focus on the story. We’ll still have big stunts but bringing in this amazing storyteller is going to be great.
Shell also admits that nothing lasts forever, but he believes that this series is “accelerating” and its audience is growing worldwide.
“Furious 7”, which was helmed by James Wan, previously faced a delay in production following the tragic death of franchise star Paul Walker. Universal almost cancelled the film, before eventually deciding to rely on body doubles and digital effects for the project.
“We would never have done this without all of Paul’s family agreeing,“NBCUniversal vice chairman Ron Meyer told Variety. He also said:
We would not have done it without everybody in the cast agreeing. We took great pains to make sure that before we said, “yes lets go forward with this film,” we knew that we were doing the right thing.
“Not only because there was a big investment involved, but because a young man’s life had been lost and he had a daughter and friends and family,” he added.
Meyer revealed that the future “Fast and Furious” movies will be quite different after they sent off Walker’s character in “Furious 7”. However, he said that “he’ll be represented in some form or another”.
He added:
I can’t tell you yet, but he won’t be in the film as a performer, as an actor, the way we did it last time. It will still be “Fast and Furious”, it will just be without Paul.
So, will you watch the prequels and spin-offs of “Fast and Furious”? Who do you think should join the cast? Let us know in the comments box below.
Source: Variety.
