A day after pushing “Fast & Furious 9” to April 2020, Universal is placing a spin-off film starring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham on their slate, with the release date set for July 26, 2019.
Chris Morgan, who has written the scripts for every “F&F” film since “Tokyo Drift” in 2006, will pen the script for this spin-off, which will see Diplomatic Security Service agent Luke Hobbs (Johnson) and redeemed “F&F” villain Deckard Shaw (Statham) go off on their own adventure. The film has yet to be titled.
In April, TheWrap’s Umberto Gonzalez reported that a short tag had been filmed for the series’ latest installment, “The Fate of the Furious,” in which Hobbs and Shaw, who had developed a rapport over the course of the film’s plot, considered going off on their own adventures away from Dominic Toretto’s team. One source said the scene was made to tease a potential spin-off, but when Vin Diesel discovered the scene had been shot without his knowledge, he ordered it to be cut from the film.
Another source told TheWrap that the scene had been shot for bonus content on the film’s home release, and that while studio execs approved the scene, they chose not to include it in the theatrical release because it would “would make for a better opportunity somewhere else.”
Yesterday, Universal moved “Fast & Furious 9” to a release date on April 10, 2020. The studio had previously placed DreamWorks’ “Trolls 2” in that slot, and bumped the animated film to a February 14, 2020 release.
“The Fate of the Furious” grossed $1.2 billion worldwide, bringing the franchise’s all-time box office total to $5.1 billion since the first film’s release in 2001.