With Furious 7's massive box office take of $1.5 billion making it the second highest grossing film of the year (and fifth highest-grossing film of all time), it was no surprise that another instalment was quickly green-lit. It's also understandable that Universal want to do more with the increasingly lucrative property, and that's a notion its star Vin Diesel shares.
Speaking with Variety, Diesel stated that: "We’ve written out story lines for various characters. 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."
"You can’t keep having every movie have bigger and bigger stunts forever and ever and ever", continued Universal Filmed Entertainment Group chairman Jeff Shell. "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."
That aforementioned amazing storyteller is F. Gary Gray, who will be directing the upcoming Furious 8. "I’m a fan of the cars and the world and after being on 'Straight [Outta Compton]' for four years, it was time to have some fun" the director said.
Of the wealth of characters available to use, Dwayne Johnson's Hobbs would likely be first in line for his own movie, and after Justice League and Wonder Woman, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Gadot get her own spin-off. Whichever road is taken, the future is clearly bright for the Fast & Furious franchise. Directed by F. Gary Gray, Furious 8 is scheduled to arrive in UK and US cinemas on April 14 2017.
