The movie franchise business has become so big that studios no longer simply look forward to the next film in the series. Disney now has multi-year plans in place for both the Marvel and Star Wars universes, and Warner Bros. is now doing the same thing with their DC comics properties. All of these series have multiple films planned into 2019 or 2020. Now another long running franchise is looking even further down the road, as we now have release dates for Fast and Furious numbers 9 and 10.
Franchise star Vin Diesel made the announcement via his Instagram page that, in addition to the already announced Furious 8, currently set for release on April 14, 2017, we will see the ninth installment April 19, 2019, and the tenth will follow on April 2, 2021. The announcement of the release dates is apparently part of a major marketing plan that Universal will likely be running from now until the tenth film hits. Along with the dates was included the tagline, "2 Decades, 10 Films, 1 Saga."
While we already knew we're getting Furious 8 next year, and it was certainly implied that there would be more after that, assuming that fans kept showing up, now it looks like we have a roadmap to get us to the end of the series. It also confirms Vin Diesel’s recent comments that he promised Universal "one last trilogy" to conclude the series. Now we have the dates for said trilogy, so we know exactly where things are going from here.
Beyond Vin Diesel, who of course we expect to be there through the end, most of the cast of Furious 7 has returned for Furious 8. Beyond that we know that Lucas Black has also signed on for the ninth installment, though at that point there were no specific plans for the franchise to get to Fast and Furious 10. We expect that most of the recurring stars will sign on for the rest of the franchise as well sooner rather than later, if only to make sure that Universal has their schedules locked in. You don’t want to have problems filming Fast and Furious 10 because Vin Diesel is busy recording voice work for Guardians of the Galaxy’s Greatest Hits, which is the name I just made up for the third movie in that franchise.
This is also great news for Helen Mirren, who has expressed interest in getting involved in the franchise. With three more films there’s ample opportunity for the writers to find a part for her to play. She wants in, and Vin Diesel wants her, and this seriously needs to happen.
