If you’re a fan of the ‘Fast & Furious’ franchise, you’re likely familiar with the seemingly never-ending feud between Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and series star Vin Diesel. The latter has been driving cars and saying badass one-liners in the franchise since the very beginning, while the former was seen as the “franchise viagra” that came in and catapulted the ‘F&F’ films to new box office heights. And apparently, this rivalry almost came to fisticuffs on the set of a previous film, and speculation says is the reason why ‘Hobbs & Shaw’ exists.
However, not only does it seem like the ‘Fast & Furious’ cast is family once again, but according to Johnson, we could be seeing a bit of a reunion in the future.
“Lastly, but not least, I want to thank brother Vin for your support of ‘Hobbs & Shaw,’” said Johnson in a recent Instagram video. “I saw your post and I appreciate it. … As you know, and what a wild ride this is and what a wild ride this has been, 10 years ago when you and I spoke, you invited me into the ‘Fast & Furious’ family. I’m grateful for that invite.”
He continued, “And as you know, my goal was always, all these years, to come into the ‘Fast & Furious’ world and help elevate the franchise in any way that I possibly could. And of course, all roads lead to one thing. I’ll be seeing you soon, Toretto.”
So, there you have it, folks. We know that Johnson, as well as Jason Statham, are not revving their engines for ‘Fast & Furious 9.’ But perhaps to celebrate film #10, we could see the whole gang get back together? At this point, it’s probably best for both franchises if that were to happen.
While we don’t know how ‘FF9’ is going to do at the box office without The Rock and Statham, we do know that the series pre-Dwayne Johnson wasn’t nearly as massive as it is now. And we know that the Vin Diesel-less ‘Hobbs & Shaw’ spin-off wasn’t the billion-dollar behemoth that Universal was hoping for, especially with a $200 million budget. Of course, the current total of $755 million worldwide isn’t anything to sneeze at, but just not anywhere near the previous couple of ‘FF’ films that earned well over $1 billion each.
Either way, the temptation of bringing the world of ‘Hobbs & Shaw’ and ‘Fast & Furious’ is likely just too good to pass up, even if they only spent one film building the former’s new mythology. “Fast & Furious 9” is hitting theaters on May 22, 2020.