With more than $685 million in the bank worldwide already, The Fate of the Furious is breaking records (and quarter miles) for Universal. So it’s no surprise to learn that the studio is greenlighting a spinoff that will focus on two members of Dominic Toretto’s “family.” More like former enemies, now friends with Dwayne Johnson’s Luke Hobbs and Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw.
Friend might be to loose a term for Shaw’s relationship with Dominic Toretto. He killed Han after all. With hashtags popping up en lieu of the F8 release (#JusticeForHan), I’m wondering how far the Shaw/Toretto friendship extends? Maybe as long as an olive branch that can be broken with enough force.
Nevertheless, the real question is why has it taken this long to get a Hobbs spinoff? There have been rumors ever since Johnson joined the franchise with Fast Five. His character is getting considerably less screen time as the series has progressed and the manner in which F8 ended, it looked like he was ready to retire the shield and spend more time with his daughter. Then again, Johnson and Statham’s scenes together have been pretty fun, so I’m all for a spinoff.
Deadline says the spinoff is still in the early stages with Chris Morgan, chief writer of the series starting with The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, set to pen the screenplay. The general conceit is for Hobbs to form another unlikely alliance with Deckard Shaw, and the film would likely arrive in theaters prior to the release of the ninth Fast film. So plan for a late 2018 release date.
