As we approach the release of the sixth film in the Fast and Furious franchise, it’s a bit crazy to think that the series is actually at the top of its game this far in.  The worldwide box office total of 2011’s Fast Five doubled that of the second-highest grossing entry in the series, Fast & Furious, and now director Justin Lin’s Fast & Furious 6 is poised to be one of the biggest films of a very crowded summer.

Steve recently spoke with producer Neal Moritz for an extended interview, and during their conversation he talked extensively about what fans can expect from Fast & Furious 6 as well as the progress on the very fast-moving Fast & Furious 7, which was recently announced for a summer 2014 release.  Moritz confirmed that James Wan will be directing the next installment and talked about why they chose the Saw director to step into the franchise, and he also assured us that Dwayne Johnson will indeed be returning.  Hit the jump for much, much more.

We already knew that Universal was wasting no time in moving forward on Fast & Furious 7, and today at the studio’s CinemaCon presentation, Vin Diesel announced that the next installment is due out on July 11, 2014.  No details are known other than filming begins this summer, Diesel will return alongside Paul Walker, and James Wan (Insidious) is set to direct.

While I assume Universal would try to round up cast members other than Diesel and Walker, the involvement of Dwayne Johnson is a bit up in the air.  In a recent interview with Steve, Johnson seemed doubtful that production would begin so soon, but if Universal wants to hit that July 2014 release date, filming has to begin ASAP.  Johnson could be a little out of the loop on this, so either his character won’t be in the seventh installment, or it will be a minor role since filming on Fast & Furious 7 will conflict his shooting schedule on Brett Ratner’s Hercules.

We learned last week that Justin Lin, the director of the last four Fast & Furious movies, will not return to direct the seventh movie in the series after Fast & Furious 6.  This is a big franchise for Universal—the studio may shoot as early Fast Seven this summer for a 2014 release, but to do so they need a director.  Universal reportedly spoke to Baltazar Kormakur (Contraband), Jeff Wadlow (Kick-Ass 2), and Harold Zwart (The Karate Kid) about the job, but Deadline expects James Wan to sign a deal by the end of the week.  Wan made his name as the director of Saw.  His last film was the surprise hit Insidious, and Wan is currently in post-production on Insidious: Chapter 2.

Hit the jump to read what Lin had to say on the choice of Wan, plus a rundown on what we know about Fast & Furious 7 so far.

Ever since Dwayne Johnson first joined the cast of Justin Lin’s sequel Fast Five, there’s been talk of his Luke Hobbs character getting his own spinoff film.  Producer Neal Moritz said back in January of 2011 that they were “about to” get a script together for the Hobbs movie, and Johnson himself has been keen on the idea.  Johnson has a key role in this year’s Fast & Furious 6, as his DSS agent enlists Vin Diesel’s car-thieving crew to help him combat a rival team of thieves in Europe in return for Diesel and Co.’s full pardons.  Now Johnson has provided an update on the standalone Hobbs movie, suggesting it might come in between Fast 6 and the inevitable Fast & Furious 7.  Hit the jump for more.

Director Justin Lin’s upcoming sixth film in the Fast & Furious franchise is getting the IMAX treatment.  IMAX and Universal Pictures announced today that Fast & Furious 6 will be released in both traditional and IMAX theaters when it opens worldwide on May 22nd.  It’s unknown if this means that the film will be opening two days earlier in domestic IMAX theaters now, or if fans in the U.S. will have to wait until the previously announced release date of Friday, May 24th to check the pic out.

If the scope of Lin’s Fast Five is any indication of how things will play out onscreen in FF6, IMAX seems a swell fit to showcase the filmmaker’s ambitious action sequences.  We’ve already gotten a peek at a stunt in which a car drives straight through the nose of a plane in the Fast & Furious 6 trailer, so I can only imagine what other sorts of nuttiness awaits fans in the rest of the film.

When we first got a look at director Justin Lin’s upcoming sequel Fast & Furious 6 by way of a brief Super Bowl spot, it was clear that the follow-up was going to be quite massive in scale.  The film’s full trailer confirmed this fact, as fans were teased with everything from a ginormous ensemble cast to a car literally exploding out the tip of an airplane.  Lin’s Fast Five was an immensely entertaining actioner on a large scale, and it appears that he’s upped the ante even more for the Europe-set sequel.

When Fast & Furious 6 was first announced as being in development, there were rumors that Lin would be shooting both Fast 6 and Fast 7 back-to-back, but he ultimately decided to only focus on the immediate sequel.  That said, it’s clear that the an overall story arc is planned to play out over the next few films, and a solid rumor has now popped up that claims that a major action star will make a brief appearance at the end if 6 before playing the supervillain in Fast 7.  Hit the jump to read on, but beware there are MASSIVE SPOILERS for Fast & Furious 6 below.  I cannot stress this enough, do not click on if you don’t want to know how Fast 6 ends.

Judging by my Twitter feed, people I follow absolutely lost their minds when they saw the Super Bowl spot for Fast & Furious 6.  As I said in my write-up, it looks like the series has finally come into its own, and I’m eager to see what the new movie has in store (other than a car exploding out of a plane).  I’m also eager to see how fans will react when the full trailer goes online later today.  A sneak peek has been released, and it features Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Dom (Vin Diesel) having a conversation.  It’s the vegetables before the triple-fudge-muscle-car-tank-explosion-sundae.

Hit the jump to check out the sneak peek, and check back here at noon EST when the full trailer goes online.  The film also stars Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez, Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson, Joe Taslim, and Luke Evans.  Fast & Furious 6 opens May 24th.

We’re still not 100% sure if the new Fast & Furious movie is entitled “Fast & Furious 6” (it could be “Fast Six“, “Furious Six“, or maybe even my personal prediction, Fast Cars Go Boom Now), but no matter what it ends up being called, we now have the first synopsis.  The new film has Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) trying to stop a group of mercenary drivers led by an unnamed mastermind (Luke Evans) and Letty (Michelle Rodriguez).  Hobbs recruits Dom (Vin Diesel) and his crew to help bring down the criminal outfit, and in exchange will provide pardons for the Rio heist.

Hit the jump for the full synopsis, and look out for the first trailer during the Super Bowl.  The film also stars Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Sung Kang, Gal Gadot, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Elsa Pataky, and Gina Carano.  Fast & Furious 6 opens May 24th.

We’ve already revealed teasers for the Super Bowl ads for Oz the Great and Powerful and The Lone Ranger (although the latter is during the pre-game), plus reported on the first look at Fast & Furious 6 as well as the Star Trek Into Darkness app that will start up during the second quarter.  According to THR, there will also be ads for World War Z and Iron Man 3.  Sony, Fox, and Warner Bros. are skipping out on the Super Bowl, and you can’t really blame them since adtime is averaging around $3.75 million.  Personally, I’m most excited for the no-name company that purchases adtime and runs a horribly offensive commercial (there’s always one).  For non-movie ads, there will be the usual suspects the Budweiser Clydesdales, E-Trade’s talking baby, and Danica Patrick for GoDaddy.com.  I also wouldn’t be surprised to see a few Bud Light commercials show up, and those are usually among the best of the night.

Hit the jump for details on the ads.  Super Bowl XLVII begins at 6:30pm EST.

Vin Diesel is ridiculously popular on Facebook (37 million likes), and he’s done a good job at using his page to promote his upcoming projects.  Today, he has revealed a new image from Fast & Furious 6, and he also provided a confirmation that the first trailer will premiere during the Super Bowl on February 3rd.  That’s a scant three months before the film opens, but the Super Bowl is the perfect place to show off a trailer for a movie like Fast & Furious 6.  Presumably, we’ll start seeing some posters soon, and since Super Bowl ad time is ridiculously expensive, a longer trailer should debut online or in theaters soon after the Super Bowl spot.

Hit the jump to check out the new image.  The film also stars Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Jordana Brewster, Michelle Rodriguez, Ludacris, Tyrese Gibson, Joe Taslim, and Luke Evans.  Fast & Furious 6 opens May 24th.

With the licensing expo set to begin next week, a friend of the site has sent over a number of new synopses and promo images from some highly anticipated upcoming films.  Included in the batch is a new promo image for Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot Man of Steel, as well as a promo image for director Justin Lin’s Fast & Furious 6.  Warner Bros. released the first logo for Man of Steel a few months ago, and this promo image puts that hardened “S” front and center.  As for Fast & Furious 6, this is only some very early promo artwork that basically says “the super lucrative Fast & Furious franchise is continuing.”

Though plot details are under wraps for the next installment, we do know that much of the action in Fast & Furious 6 takes place in Europe, with Dwayne Johnson reprising his role from Fast Five alongside franchise regulars like Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jordana Brewster.  Moreover, Luke Evans was recently confirmed as the film’s baddie.  Hit the jump to check out the two promo images.  Man of Steel opens on June 14^th, 2013 while Fast & Furious 6 is slated for release on May 24^th, 2013.

At the TNT portion of the TCA Winter Press Tour, actress Jordana Brewster was in attendance to talk about her role in the summer series Dallas. While we will run that portion of the interview closer to the series premiere, we did want to post what she had to say about the Fast & Furious franchise and why she thinks it’s so enduring with fans, her hopes that she will be able to schedule it with her new TV show, how motherhood will affect her character, and that she is looking forward to working with Michelle Rodriguez again in Fast Six. Check out what she had to say after the jump.

From the beautiful isle of Puerto Rico comes our first look at the set of Fast Five, the fifth entry in the Fast & Furious franchise.  As you will see from the pics, Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Ludacris, and Tyrese Gibson will all reprise their roles in the franchise.  Though absent in this array of images, Dwayne Johnson will join the cast as they shoot in Puerto Rico and Brazil, among other locations.  Check out the images after the jump.

A Dwayne Johnson appearance in Fast Five — the sequel to 2009′s Fast & Furious and fifth entry in the gearhead franchise — has been in the rumor mill for a few months now.  But a tweet from Tyrese Gibson brings it one step closer to fact:

“Major shouts to Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, & Dewayne [sic] “Rock” Johnson!! “Fast & Furious Five” Let’s get em again!!”

Our sources can confirm the casting, so expect an official announcement soon.  Johnson and Gibson will join franchise leads Paul Walker and Vin Diesel for the sequel, which will shoot this summer in Brazil, Rio, and Puerto Rico among other locations; Johnson’s character is rumored to be “on the right side of the law.”  After a string of family films, the former wrestler appears to be getting back in action mode, starting with this November’s Faster (read Steve’s set report here).  For more details on Fast Five, check out Steve’s interview with producer Neal Moritz here.  With filming set to start soon, expect even more casting news in the near future. [Update: In addition to Dwayne Johnson joining the cast and Tyrese Gibson returning, actor/rapper/2 Fast 2 Furious co-star Ludacris tweeted that he was also returning for the fifth film]

Ericson Core (“Invincible”) has signed to direct “xXx: The Return of Xander Cage”. This will make it the 3rd film in the xXx franchise, which should have never been a franchise.  Vin Diesel is also already signed on to star.  This means that Diesel will be returning to another franchise which helped him become the big action star that he was for those 5 or 10 minutes a couple of years ago after starring in this years surprise hit (sigh) “Fast & Furious”.  To find out some more details and what Xander Cage will be up to in this adventure, hit the jump.