It was recently confirmed that Straight Outta Compton helmer F. Gary Gray will direct the eighth Fast & Furious movie and that it would be the start of a new trilogy of films. Now, Variety is reporting that those films may not be the only things that fans of the franchise have to look forward to, as Universal Pictures and Vin Diesel are also working on Fast & Furious spinoffs and prequels.
“We’ve written out story lines for various characters,” said Diesel. “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.”
The trade says Diesel did not say which characters would get their own film, but Dwayne Johnson has hinted in the past he’d like to see his character, Luke Hobbs, featured in solo adventures.
Universal Pictures Chairman Donna Langley confirmed that talks were taking place. “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.”
As far as the direct sequels,Variety goes on to say that those films “will be different in tone from the adventures that preceded them.”
“We have a director who is going to bring the darkness out and bring out the character,” said Diesel about Gray.
“You can’t keep having every movie have bigger and bigger stunts forever and ever and ever,” said Jeff Shell, chairman of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group. “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.”
We could, eventually, see more than another three films, however. “Vin has a vision in his mind for three more, so let’s get three more done and then see where we are from there,” added Shell. “Everything has an end, so I don’t think our expectation is we’re going to have a hundred of them…To me ‘Fast and Furious’ has become no different than a beloved series that comes on every year. ”
Furious 7 earned an impressive $1.514 billion at the worldwide box office earlier this year.
