Vin Diesel took the stage today at CinemaCon in Las Vegas and announced, to no one’s surprise, that the Fast and the Furious phenomenon will speed ahead with an eight installment set for 2017.
With the seventh movie in the franchise grossing over a billion dollars globally in the first three weeks of release (and still going strong), there was little doubt Universal Pictures would move forward with another chapter in the insanely popular and profitable series, set for April 14, 2017.
“We’re going to make the best movie you’ve ever seen,” Furious star Diesel told the crowd made up of fans, reporters and theater owners during Universal’s presentation at the annual trade show.
The new chapter in the @FastFurious saga will be released on Friday, April 14, 2017. pic.twitter.com/FjH5wwnWWG
— #Furious7 (@FastFurious) April 23, 2015
One of the series’ other heavyweight stars Dwayne Johnson weighed in on the next chapter and his excitement at the possibilities.
“Vin and I were talking the other day and we think the best thing is to probably create a little bit of space. Let’s let people enjoy Furious 7, and we’ll see,” he told Access Hollywood at CinemaCon while talking up the upcoming San Andreas earlier this week.
“It would be a great challenge to do Fast 8,” he said. “But we’re up for the challenge if we decide to go down that road.”
Where exactly the series goes from here is anyone’s guess.Typically the last scene (since Fast & Furious) sets up the next installment with a cliffhanger. However the end of Furious 7 was dedicated to the late Paul Walker and offering his Brian O’ Connor a final drive into the sunset in the series.
Furious 8, or whatever play on words it may utilize in the title, could be serve as a soft overhaul by adding several new cast members to fill in the places left vacant by the characters played by Walker, Gal Gadot, Sung Kang and likely Jordana Brewster.
SOURCES: Collider, Access Hollywood
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