In Hollywood, cinematic universes seem to have replaced those tiny asthmatic handbag dogs: they’re all the rage and everybody’s got to have one. The latest film series to announce a slew of spin-offs is the Fast & Furious franchise.
With Fast & Furious 8 currently in the works, the powers that be have also revealed plans for at least two more spin-offs on top of this. Vin Diesel, who has become a big bankable star off the back of the films, is said to be heavily involved. Potential offshoots include prequels which chart certain characters’ origins, as well as side adventures following other characters.
There is certainly no shortage of potential characters to choose from in Fast & Furious. Over the course of 14 years and seven films, the series has accumulated an entire catalogue of street racers, cops and criminals. More than a few could be leveraged for a half decent film, if that’s what Universal Studios are looking for. One of the keys to the series’ success has been its cast diversity, and, if done right, its spin-offs could build on this success.
Even so, it’s still a little wearisome to see yet another film series redefine itself as a “franchise”, with all the spin-offs and prequels that this implies. While the title “Cinematic Universe” hasn’t been used officially, it’s fairly clear this is the direction the series is going. Not content with being decent action movies that make a ton of money, Fast & Furious now wants to be The Avengers of cars.
Having said that, we’d still be pretty down here at Cultured Vultures for a Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson solo outing if it came to it. Maybe he could thwart a street racing gang in Texas led by Stone Cold Steve Austin?
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