Universal has announced “Furious 8,” the next installment of the “Fast and Furious” franchise, will be released on April 14, 2017.
The heist action franchise stars Vin Diesel, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Michelle Rodriguez and the latest installment, “Furious 7,” broke records at the box office, and has already made over $1 billion worldwide.
Paul Walker, one of the original stars of the franchise dating back to the original film in 2001, died unexpectedly while “Furious 7” was still in production, causing director James Wan and the filmmakers to rejigger the storyline and give an onscreen sendoff to his character, Brian O’Connor.
But with “Furious 7” becoming Universal’s biggest movie ever despite the offscreen tragedy, there was never any question the franchise would continue without him.
“Furious 7’s” 17-day climb to $1 billion marks a new record for the fastest film to reach that milestone, as “The Avengers,” “Avatar” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” crossed $1 billion in 19 days.
The only original live-action film franchise to achieve this magnitude of box office success, “Furious 7” has propelled the “Fast & Furious” series past $3 billion worldwide ($3.392 billion).