The central Fast and Furious franchise will come to a conclusion after the 10th and 11th films. Justin Lin, who has directed five Fast and Furious films, will return to direct the final two instalments; driving the franchise to the finish line after over two decades in theatres.
This does not, however, necessarily mean that the Fast and Furious cinematic universe is coming to an end. Although it will conclude after Lin directs the 11th instalment; spin-off movies based on Fast and Furious characters are currently in development at Universal.
International success
The first of those endeavours, the creatively titled Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw; starring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham, opened in 2019 and grossed over $759 million worldwide. Just $174 million of that total came from theatres in the U.S. and Canada.
The highest-grossing film in the franchise, 2015’s Furious 7, made $1.16 billion from foreign grosses alone. It made more in China ($390.9 million) than it did from domestic grosses ($353 million).
The latest Fast and Furious, F9, was originally supposed to debut earlier this year. But Universal pushed the project to Memorial Day 2021 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
F9 is the best example yet of one of the most enduring accomplishments of the Fast and Furious movies; which launched in 2001 starring the late Paul Walker as an undercover cop infiltrating a band of criminals led by Diesel’s Dom.
Since that film became a surprise sensation, the Fast and Furious movies have boasted easily the most racially and ethnically diverse casts in Hollywood history, especially for a global film franchise. This pre-dates similar efforts by Disney and Warner Bros.’ comic book universes to expand beyond the standard white male heroes.