With the tragic death of Paul Walker, there's been a lot of speculation about the future of the Fast and Furious franchise. Now it looks like the studio plans to keep the movies going for a least a bit longer.
Donna Langley, chairman of Universal Pictures, told The Hollywood Reporter that she thinks there will be at least three more movies in the Fast and Furious franchise.
Langley described Fast and Furious as a growing franchise, noting that they'll see how Furious 7 does but that because of the box office success of the movies, she believes there is "more to mine there." Langley did however acknowledge that they're trying to be mindful of audiences getting tired of the series.
This contradicts speculation earlier this week that the franchise was coming to an end and that Justin Lin would direct the final installment. Deadline reported that director Justin Lin would return to the series to direct the finale, which was expected to be two films shot back to back.
That could still be true, but it just means either that the speculated two-part finale will be Fast and Furious 9 and Fast and Furious 10, or that it will actually be three parts. However, the fact that Langley said the franchise has "at least" three more implies the movies could go well beyond the 10th film if they continue to do well, and that there isn't really a firm plan here.
The Fast and Furious films have been going strong at the Box Office for 13 years now, with the first film opening in 2001. In fact they've only gotten more popular with the most recent film, Fast & Furious 6, being the highest grossing of the franchise at $788 million worldwide. Before that Fast Five grossed $626 miillion.
But should the series continue on for so many more movies without Paul Walker? The lead actor died during the filming of the upcoming Furious 7, with his brothers Caleb and Cody Walker helping to finish his scenes, as we previously reported. The franchise is definitely an ensemble production which could continue without Walker, but it will still be difficult for fans to see at least three movies with no scenes with Paul Walker at all.
Furious 7 opens in theaters on April 3, 2015.
image courtesy of INFphoto.com