'Fast & Furious' Franchise Ending With 11th Film, Justin Lin Directing Last Two Movies

Universal Pictures has decided to conclude the highly successful “Fast and Furious” franchise after eleven films.

The final two films in the series will be helmed by Justin Lin, who directed the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and ninth “Fast and Furious” movies, Deadline first reported. The ninth film, entitled “F9,” is currently in post-production and is scheduled to hit the theaters in 2021.

The story of the final two films is likely to focus on the film’s main character Dominic Toretto played by Vin Diesel. The studio is also planning to bring back actors like Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Sung Kang, and Nathalie Emmanuel for the final two movies, per the media outlet.

Meanwhile, Variety reported that while the tenth and eleventh films are putting an end to the central “F&F” series, several spin-offs are already in works at Universal Pictures.

The “Fast and Furious” series started in 2001 and instantly became a hit among the audience due to its amazing cars and high-octane action sequences. The film garnered mixed reviews from the critics but managed to earn more than $200 million globally.

The second film, entitled “2 Fast 2 Furious,” hit theaters in 2003 and did even better at the box office, encouraging the studio to turn it into a franchise. The third and fourth movies also did reasonably well.

Meanwhile, 2011’s “Fast Five” became the first movie in the franchise to breach the $500-million mark. It made more than $600 million globally and also became the first film in the series to hold a 70%+ score on review site Rotten Tomatoes.

The seventh and eighth films took the franchise to a whole new level by earning $1 billion each. “Fast and Furious 7” is the most critically-acclaimed movie in the history of the series.

The entire “Fast and Furious” saga has made over $5 billion at the worldwide box office.

The studio also made a spin-off, entitled “Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw,” with Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, and Idris Elba. The movie performed well at the box office and earned positive reviews.

As far as the main franchise is concerned, the ninth film in the franchise was pushed back to May 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and has been scheduled to open on Memorial Day weekend next year.

Apart from the series regulars, the cast of the upcoming film will also include stars like John Cena, Helen Mirren, and Cardi B.