It's been a hot minute since we found out the release date for Fast 8, the next volume in the Fast & Furious franchise, would be April 14th, 2017, and now we've got word of when the two concluding chapters of the series will hit theaters. Dominic Toretto himself, Vin Diesel, took to Instagram last night to announce the release dates, with the ninth film hitting on April 19th, 2019 and the tenth (and final) installment coming to theaters on April 2nd, 2021. You can check out Diesel's Instagram post right below:
A photo posted by Vin Diesel (@vindiesel) on Feb 2, 2016 at 10:51pm PST
The last installment in the series, Furious 7, proved to be the franchise's most lucrative entry to date, and for good reason too. As directed by James Wan, the seventh incarnation, and final sequel to star the late Paul Walker, was visually exuberant and relatively low on exposition in comparison to the last few Fast & Furious films. The focus seemed to be realigned onto big showy spectacles rather than the rote, borderline unbearable melodrama in Furious 7, and one can only hope that this kind of thinking will continue on Fast 8. The fact that the next installment will be helmed by F. Gary Gray, the man behind Straight Outta Compton, suggests that things will continue to get better for the seminal franchise.
One can only hope that the powers that be hitch notable populist filmmakers to the concluding chapters of Fast & Furious. My top choice would be Jaume Collet-Serra, one of the most subtle and inventive directors to be working with big studios; his films, such as Orphan, Non-Stop, Run All Night, and Unknown, are distinctly stylish despite being largely trash in terms of dramatic substance. And in a perfect world, Fast & Furious would be a great opportunity for the seemingly blacklisted Josh Trank, whose Chronicle stands as one of maybe seven extraordinary found-footage films. We'll just have to wait and see who gets the gigs, though we already know when to buy the tickets.
