A Fast and the Furious spinoff featuring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham’s characters will be released in 2019.
On Friday, Johnson confirmed a day-old report from The Hollywood Reporter on Twitter.
My goal from day 1 was to come in and create an exciting/fun character for the fans, elevate the franchise and build it out. #HobbsShaw2019 https://t.co/IJcdQTHSi3
— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) October 6, 2017
THR says that during the filming of the last film, The Fate of the Furious, the studio noticed spinoff-worthy chemistry between the two actors. The writer of the last six Fast and the Furious movies, Chris Morgan, is currently writing the script.
Variety says that Shane Black (Iron Man 3) is a potential candidate to direct.
The spinoff is due out July 26, 2019, the same day as the new Terminator movie and nine months before the ninth “core” entry in this 16-year-old franchise. This is the first time the $5 billion+ franchise has spun off.
Across the movies, Johnson plays a Diplomatic Security Service agent that befriended Vin Diesel’s street race-loving family while Statham is an ex-assassin who has now also allied with the heroes. Both actors joined the franchise fairly late with Johnson starting with number five and Statham with the seventh after a cameo in Fast & Furious 6.
The Fate of the Furious was released in April and is now the 11th highest-grossing movie of all time. It contributed $1.2 billion to that $5 billion gross. Furious 7 is responsible for $1.5 billion. The franchise is on its way down; time to pull the plug if you’d ask me.
