Universal has delayed release of the ninth 'Fast and Furious' film amid rumors they're planning a spin-off focusing on the muscled actor's character Luke Hobbs and Jason Statham's Deckard Shaw.
- Oct 5, 2017
AceShowbiz - "Fast and Furious 9" is no longer set to arrive in U.S. theaters in 2019. Universal Studios has announced that the ninth installment of the "Fast and Furious" film series has been pushed back from April 19, 2019 to April 10, 2020.
The studio hasn't given any comment regarding the changed release date. There's also no word on whether the April 2, 2021 release date of "Fast and Furious 10" has changed either. Following the release date change, "Trolls 2" has now moved from the "Fast 9" new date to February 14, 2020.
Last month, "Fast and Furious" film franchise star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson shared a cryptic Instagram photo which many believed could have featured the actor signing his contract for a long-rumored spin-off focusing on his character Luke Hobbs and Jason Statham's Deckard Shaw.
While nothing has been confirmed yet, Dwayne's co-star Tyrese Gibson slammed him on the photo-sharing site. The Roman Pearce depicter took to the comment section to express his frustration over the possible spin-off.
"If you move forward with that #Hobbs Movie you will have purposely ignored the heart to heart moment we had in my sprinter," Tyrese wrote. "I don't wanna hear from you until you remember what we talked about. I'm on your timeline cause you're not responding to my text messages - #FastFamily is just that a family........ We don't fly solo."
Days later, he wrote a lengthy message directed at Dwayne. "I have never and will never have a problem with this major movie star he's my brother," he wrote. "I'm simply trying to reach him cause he won't call me back about this solo #HobbsMovie I want you to shoot it just not right now cause the #Fast9 release date has already been announced and we can't let our loyal fans #FastFamily or our loyal fast and furious FANS down on any level from pushing the date........ Didn't you see how HUGE #Fast8 was? It's because we announced and KEPT our release date bro."
Tyrese continued, "We do this on behalf of the families, the cast, the crew member who have been down and loyal to us for 15 years...... Everyone matters.... When we shoot we all eat, we we show up as a FAMILY display our love, our funny stuff, our story lines and HEARTS in every frame...... Me and the cast laugh because it seems like #Fast is like a HOLIDAY at this point..... You [can't] push the release date of a holiday bro."
He concluded, "This is not a #Rant I'm no Rock #Hater and I don't want this #Life I love my own... I'm doing this for the #FastFamily I'm loyal and I apologize for being loyal but dammit I am." He wrote in another post, "Once you hit me back I will delete every post." The messages have since been deleted, which might mean that Johnson has finally responded to Gibson's messages.
On Wednesday, October 4, just hours after the studio made the announcement of the release date change, Tyrese was back at it again with his online rant to throw shots at Dwayne. "#PSA Congratulations to @TheRock and your brother in law aka 7 bucks producing partner @hhgarcia41 for making the fast and the furious franchise about YOU," he wrote.
"And like you, DJ even if they call I will not be deleting this post," he continued. "Gn folks see you in 2020 April #FastFamily right? Nah..... it's about #TeamDewayne #3yrs will it be worth the wait? #NoShaw just Hobbs will this be another #BayWatch? Guys guys just relax I'm just a passionate film critic."
