I fell in love with The Fast and the Furious franchise watching its fifth installment Fast Five. From there, the franchise only got wilder with Fast & Furious 6 and Furious 7 tying the various corners of the franchise together and upping the insanity and gravity-defying logic of each previous installment. However, it should have stopped there.
The Fate of the Furious, to say the least, was a disappointment. It’s clear that the death of Paul Walker, and the loss of his character Brian, was a huge blow to the franchise. Coupled with the fact that Furious 7 ended on such an emotional, yet satisfying note, one has to wonder why Universal had to continue making sequels.
One word: money. In an article on Universal’s ongoing legal battle with longtime Fast & Furious producer Neal Moritz, The Hollywood Reporter revealed the studio is exploring the idea of a female-anchored Fast & Furious film featuring Charlize Theron‘s The Fate of the Furious villain Cipher. Apparently, a “rep with important talent in the films” says Universal needs to look into broadening or “Avengers-ize” the franchise.
With that said, I now repeat the *sigh* found in the article’s headline. Look, I’ll be the first to admit that the franchise’s first spin-off Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw looks like fun, but where does it end? Will Universal churn out Fast & Furious films until the box office drops? Isn’t that an embarrassing way for any popular franchise to end?
I haven’t even touched on the possibility they might turn Cipher into a hero like they did with Jason Statham’s Shaw. Did Universal forget the huge #JusticeForHan movement around the time of The Fate of the Furious when we found out that Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto not only forgave Shaw, but trusted him with rescuing his son from Cipher? It was a huge smack in the face for a franchise built on the notion of “family” to just easily forgive Shaw for murdering Han in cold blood.
I don’t think the Fast & Furious franchise needs anymore films after 9 and 10 are released, but I also know that if the trailers tease a damn fun time I’ll probably go and see them. I’m weak like that.
What do you think of a female-led Fast & Furious film featuring Charlize Theron’s Cipher? Are you tired of seeing popular franchises milked into the ground?
