I swear, no puns on "The Fast and the Furious" will make it into this news piece.
With Fast Five nearing $600 million in global sales, Universal
is turning their attention to the next installment in the series, tentatively called The Fast and the Furious 6. Deadline now
reports that a release date has been set for the next movie: Memorial
Day 2013. Series star Vin Diesel is set to return both in front of
and behind the camera (as a producer) and Justin Lin — director of the
last three films in the series — is said to be returning for more. With the payday this franchise (ugh) makes, could you blame them?
How much more life is left in this damn series anyways? If Nikki Finke's
sources and the numbers the last two films have done at the box office
are to be believed, they won't be leaving theaters soon. In fact, the
studio looks to be giving the entire franchise a genre overhaul, taking
the focus away from the street-racing aspects of prior films and moving
into the "heist" genre.
In other words, Universal is looking to expand its audience beyond
just those enthusiastic about car culture. It seems their hopes are to
recreate the lightning in a bottle that was The French Connection, The Italian Job,
the "Bourne" and "Ocean's 11" series. Mind you, it's unlikely the "Fast
and Furious" series will ever have the brains or charm of any of these
films. Maybe with the right script and crew, but we wouldn't hold our
breath. Still, you've got to give Universal a little bit of credit for
taking their biggest selling series ever, and be willing to
take it back to the drawing board. It could be a move that backfires,
but you've got to give them some credit for the risk involved.
Can the "Fast and Furious" series evolve in something else? Or will it
forever remain the series whose trailer gets scoffed at, yet makes
millions at the box office for being the same ... damn ... film as the last?
