Sorry, Fam: ‘Fast and Furious 9’ Was Just Pushed Back a Whole Year to 2020
You might need a Corona (or six) to deal with this news, fam. Universal has pushed the release of Fast and Furious 9 (or whatever they end up calling it) back from 2019 to 2020 — meaning you’ll now have to wait an extra, whole year to see the continuation of Dom & Co.’s epic automotive action soap opera. Although no reason for the delay was given, I have to assume Universal needs more time to come up with a title, and “9” isn’t exactly the most generous number to work with. Fast 9 Furious? Fast 9? The 9 Lives of the Furious? It’s kind of a Problem.
Per Variety, Universal has shifted the release of Fast and Furious 9 to April 10, 2020. That’s almost a full year after its intended release date of April 19, 2019. The studio had previously set aside that April 2020 date for Trolls 2, which will now hit theaters a few months earlier on February 14, 2020 — because nothing says romance like digitally rendered versions of those weird naked dolls with colorful hair and matching gemstones embedded in their bellies. (Come to think of it, Trolls are basically like David Cronenberg’s version of the Care Bears.)
Universal is also developing a Fast and Furious spinoff starring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham. That project arose in the wake of the highly-publicized beef between Johnson and Vin Diesel, and it seems as though some of their co-stars aren’t too happy about it. Just last month, Tyrese Gibson posted — and deleted — a series of messages directed at Johnson, in which he essentially begged his co-star to remain in the core franchise and not move forward with the spinoff.
The spinoff is not yet in production, and it’s unclear if Universal hopes to release it before the ninth Fast and Furious film, which has not yet secured a director.