Can you smell what The Rock is trash-talking? Dwayne Johnson is now a movie star, but the wrestler in him still likes to come out and fight, just in a new way. When Southern Charm star Shep Rose took a shot at the ongoing Fast and Furious franchise, including this year's upcoming Hobbs & Shaw spinoff, Johnson decided to step in with some sarcastic shade:
BOOM. That's what you call an ice cold can of whup-ass.
It's true, though. After eight released films, and more in the tank, the Fast and Furious franchise has indeed made about $5.13 billion around the world. It's Universal's biggest franchise. And apparently The Rock's "buddy," Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, is a fan. Does that trump TV chef Guy Fieri? Apparently.
The point of Dwayne Johnson's reply was clearly to point out that plenty of people are still buying tickets to Fast and Furious movies, and many fans are excited to see Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw this August, especially after that crazy first trailer.
You have to wonder why Dwayne Johnson even felt like replying to that tweet, though. It doesn't look like he was tagged. Is he secretly a Southern Charm reality show fan, or is he searching for "Fast and Furious" news on Twitter to see what people think?
The franchise is successful enough that the stars don't really need to hold out for universal popularity (no Universal pun intended). But The Rock is known for being a very candid guy. He infamously called out his male Fast 8 co-stars, calling them "candy asses," and reportedly had a feud with Vin Diesel. He was also called out by Fast co-star Tyrese Gibson for delaying the franchise's next film to make his Hobbs & Shaw spinoff with Jason Statham.
However, The Rock also seems to want to work with everyone -- from Chris Pratt to Chris Hemsworth, and even some stars not named Chris, like Jason Momoa. He's always pitching new projects, even though it's hard to see how he has time to do everything. He has Hobbs & Shaw, Jumanji 3, and Jungle Cruise on the film front, plus his TV show The Titan Games, and that chatter about running for president.
The Fast franchise has several movies still to come -- including Fast & Furious 9 (scheduled for April 10, 2020), Fast 10 (April 2, 2021), plus a spinoff giving lead roles to the women of the franchise. Fast 9 is meant to start filming soon, and Dwayne Johnson is not expected to be part of the film.
Hobbs & Show, starring The Rock's Luke Hobbs and Jason Statham's Deckard Shaw, is scheduled for release in theaters this August 2. Keep track of all of the major releases ahead in 2019 in our handy movie schedule.
