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Fast Five's massive box office take ($626 million worldwide) proved that audiences weren't done with the franchise, and neither was the studio. After the success of Fast Five, Universal Pictures quickly hired screenwriter Chris Morgan, who wrote Fast Six, as well as 2009's Fast and Furious and 2006's The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, to write a sixth installment. Morgan will have to write a seventh as well.
Actor Vin Diesel helped launch the franchise but took a break for 2003's 2 Fast 2 Furious, then returned for a cameo in Tokyo Drift before settling back into the franchise with Fast and Furious. Now officially a producer of the series, Diesel told THR that when he, Morgan and director Justin Lin sat down to discuss Fast Six (or Fast and Furious 6 or what ever it may be called), there was too much (story?) to put into just one movie.
universal happy with two more movies >> Posted 12.21.11 by Ryan -
After years of being mired in rights issues that have held up future sequels, it finally started to look like the Terminator franchise was getting back on track. But with the movie finally progressing through high profile casting news, meetings, and date-setting, a scheduling roadblock might put the kibosh on Skynet's return.
According to Deadline, Schwarzenegger (who recently signed on to return to the franchise he is famous for) and Terminator rights holder Megan Ellison want to start shooting Terminator 5 by the end of next year, a time that director Justin Lin (Fast Five) can't commit to because he will be too busy with The Fast and the Furious 6. Of course, Lin does have a solution: as long as Schwarzenegger and Ellison completely reverse their production plans, he would be available to direct.
when will Terminator be "back"? >> Posted 09.22.11 by Ryan -
Thanks to the tremendous success of Universal's Fast Five, Taiwan-born Justin Lin has quickly become one of the hottest directors in Hollywood. Universal didn't hesitate to sign Lin up for a sixth movie in The Fast and the Furious franchise, and he's also developing a new Terminator movie with series star Arnold Schwarzenegger. In addition, he's been fielding offers from "a lot of different studios" about "some amazing franchises." His increasingly busy schedule and desire to have creative control of the projects he works on has forced him to pass on the sequel to Live Free or Die Hard and now Lin has dropped out as director of Summit Entertainment's Highlander remake, a movie he has been attached to since 2008.
what did lin say about his project choices, Terminator and Fast 6? >> Posted 08.15.11 by BrentJS -
Universal Pictures is wasting no time continuing the Fast and Furious franchise and capitalizing on the rising superstar status of Ryan Reynolds.
Fast Five has earned $592 million in worldwide box office receipts since opening at the end of April, but Universal was already planning a sequel. In mid-April, the studio hired Chris Morgan, the screenwriter of Fast Five as well as 2009's Fast and Furious and 2006's The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, to write a sixth installment, after Fast Five enjoyed a successful early release in European markets. Fast Five director Justin Lin confirmed the sequel days after the movie was released domestically.
Now Deadline reports Universal is making the sequel official, giving it a release date of Memorial Day 2013, otherwise known as May 24th. Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and the rest of the Fast and the Furious acting company will reunite for "their most dangerous adventure yet", according to the studio.
R.I.P.D. will arrive in 2013, too >> Posted 06.25.11 by Ryan -
With director Matthew Vaughn's X-Men franchise prequel, X-Men: First Class, opening in theaters in just over a week, it appears as if Fox is finally getting around to looking for a replacement for Darren Aronofsky as director of the studio's next Marvel Comics adaptation, The Wolverine, the planned stand-alone sequel to 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine. In the wake of Aronofsky's departure—the Academy Award-nominated director didn't want to spend an entire year away from his family filming the movie overseas—David Slade (Twilight Saga: Eclipse), who had been in discussions with Fox before Aronofsky was hired, was rumored to be the top candidate to take the helm until he announced that he has had "no discussions" with Fox about the movie. Speculation then turned to Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code), who is a fan of the character, but he recently revealed his intention to make his sci-fi passion project, Mute, the next movie he directs. Now, Variety has revealed that Fox has put together a short list of eight potential directors to bring the feral mutant back to the big screen.
who is on the list? >> Posted 05.26.11 by BrentJS -
Summit Entertainment's Highlander remake was first announced in 2008, and, a year later, director Justin Lin (Fast & Furious, Fast Five) was handed the director's chair with a script in place from Iron Man writers Art Marcum and Matt Holloway. Then, nothing happened.
In February, the first signs of life surfaced when THR reported that Twilight Saga writer Melissa Rosenberg was negotiating to rewrite the script. Then, earlier this month, Lin told MTV that he was still working on The Highlander.
I've been working with [Marcum and Holloway] on the script. That's one where Summit has been really good [about letting it develop], and for me, it's about making sure that we can take it to the place where I feel comfortable and great about making it. I feel like I have a very good studio and team and we're working on it.
what's the latest? >> Posted 05.17.11 by Ryan -
You could say Fast Five was poised for a sequel even before it earned $83.6 million last weekend when it opened in the U.S. The fifth chapter in the Fast and Furious franchise, which opened first internationally, had already made $24 million in the U.K., Australia, and other foreign markets. Meaning, out of the gate Fast Five is the biggest financial success of the franchise.
But there were clear signs of another sequel even before Fast Five hit theaters. Universal awarded Fast Five screenwriter Chris Morgan with a two-year, first-look production deal days before Fast Five opened overseas, making a script for Fast Six one of Morgan first responsibilities. Morgan also wrote the scripts for the two previous sequels, 2009's Fast and Furious and 2006's The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, working along with director Justin Lin on all three.
now it's official >> Posted 05.03.11 by Ryan -
Even though digital Arnold Schwarzenegger didn't get a chance to utter his most famous of all movie lines, "I'll be back," in Terminator Salvation, "Ahnuld" will be back coming back—for real this time—in a fifth movie in the half-billion dollar grossing Terminator franchise.
According to Deadline, CAA began shopping around a rights package for the franchise yesterday with Schwarzenegger attached to star and Fast Five director Justin Lin at the helm. Supposedly, Universal, Sony and Lionsgate, and CBS Films have all expressed interest in the package. When Schwarzenegger and Lin were first rumored to be connected to Terminator 5 (working title), Lin's Fast Five screenwriter, Chris Morgan, was also mentioned, but Deadline's recent report states that "no screenwriter [is] attached at this point."
more about Terminator 5 >> Posted 04.27.11 by BrentJS -
In February, it was rumored that Universal was thinking of bringing Fast Five director Justin Lin and screenwriter Chris Morgan on board to create the fifth Terminator movie, now that the rights to the Terminator franchise have been purchased by Santa Barbara-based hedge fund Pacificor. Collider spoke to Lin about the rumor, and asked him whether there was any truth behind it. Lin's answer was unsurprising and land somewhere between "yes" and "maybe" as Lin details that he does have "a take" on a sequel and has already met with the Governator.
what did Lin say? >> Posted 04.16.11 by Ryan -
The latest Fast and the Furious sequel, Fast Five, is doing more than just reuniting Vin Diesel and Paul Walker for another chapter of racing from the law, it also reunites characters from the previous four movies, including Tyrese Gibson, Jordana Brewster, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Sung Kang, and Gal Gadot. New to the franchise is Dwayne Johnson, who joins the movie as a federal agent hunting down Diesel and Walker through the streets of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The first featurette for the sequel mixes behind the scenes footage with footage from the movie, along with interviews with Diesel, Walker, Johnson and director Justin Lin (Fast and Furious and Fast & Furious 3: Tokyo Drift). It also details the fight sequence between Johnson and Diesel, which Johnson describes as "a dream come true."
watch the video >> Posted 04.01.11 by Ryan