“Furious 8″ will hit theaters April 14, 2017, Vin Diesel confirmed at Universal’s CinemaCon panel in Las Vegas on Thursday.

Choking back tears, Diesel told the crowd of theater owners, “It means a lot to me to get your blessing.” He took the audience back to two years ago when on the same stage at Caesars Palace, Diesel and Paul Walker, the actor who died in a 2013 car crash, said they planned to move forward on a seventh film in the action franchise.

“We were giddy and excited,” said Diesel, adding, “You all gave me so much confidence. There was so much love.”

At various points after Walker’s shocking death, it seemed as though Universal might have to cancel the production. Shooting was not yet complete when the crash happened, but special effects technicians and stunt doubles were able to complete the project, resulting in what domestic distribution chief Nick Carpou termed, “a cathartic experience for fans of Walker.”

Just before Diesel made his announcement, footage screened of the final moment of “Furious 7, “a scene in which the two characters go on one final car race before going their separate ways.

“You’ve been so loyal all along,” Diesel told exhibitors. “You helped us create history here.”

“Furious 7″ is up to $1.15 billion at the worldwide box office, making it the seventh highest grossing film of all time. It’s likely to end up with more than $1.4 billion overall.

Dwayne Johnson‘s ascension from WWF superstar to highly sought-after action-film lead has been a bumpy road but not one without its myriad pleasures. For this reviewer, he’s the most instantly galvanic presence in the recent Fast & Furious films, and his performance in Richard Kelly‘s divisive, brilliant Southland Tales is one built on largely unexplored elements of his physicality and delivery, which suggest a far more ambitious comedic actor hiding behind the tonnage of brawn. But, hey, brawn is popular and intermittently fun to watch, which is part of the reason why the upcoming natural-disaster bonanza San Andreas, starring Johnson and Carla Gugino, is getting such a huge push in a summer full of costumed superheroes and dystopian desert chases. And at a recent press conference for the action film, Johnson confirmed that Hobbs, his character in the Fast & Furious franchise, will be returning for the recently announced, inevitable Furious 8.

Here’s the exact exchange from the press conference in regards to Hobbs in Furious 8 which our reporter Sheila Roberts attended:

Q: They announced Furious 8. Is Hobbs going to be in it?

DWAYNE JOHNSON: Of course. It can’t go on without Hobbs.


That’s good news for fans of both Johnson and the stunts-centric movie series, but Johnson also responded to the continued talk of a Hobbs spin-off film, which was originally rumored to see release between the sixth and seventh iterations of Fast & Furious. The answer is a definite maybe, as Johnson reported having a recent “big” studio conversation to discuss the possible Hobbs spin-off, which could prove to be the major guns-and-explosions franchise that Johnson has yet to secure in his career thus far. He’s easily one of the most purely enjoyable action stars to come up in the last two decades, and if we’re going to keep letting Bruce Willis blow up half of the Eastern seaboard, Johnson certainly deserves his own chance to press the detonator button as well.

Here’s Johnson’s full answer to the possibility of a Hobbs solo film:

JOHNSON: We all are interested in it. I just had a big conversation with the studio. So we’ll see. I still think for me personally we’ve created a little bit of space for him in 7 and the gauge is set for what the audience will want. That’s my take on it, you know, but a lot of other people have to have input.

At the "Fast & Furious - Supercharged" thrill ride red carpet premiere, Jason Statham told Access Hollywood he will be returning for Fast & Furious 8.

Furious 7 has been a juggernaut at the box office this year, surpassing The Avengers recently to become the third highest grossing film of all-time. "Yeah, it just shows the fanbase is very unique. They really do relate to the characters. They love these characters. They've followed them for years and years," Statham said of the Furious 7's box office performance so far. "We're already talking about doing another one, Part 8. I'm a newcomer, I just got invited to the party on this last one. It is nice to know I'll be doing another."

Last we saw of Statham's Deckard Shaw, he was locked away in a maximum security prison. Although, he did promise to bust out one day and seek revenge. Statham wouldn't share any of the plot, but "there is some great stuff that I already know about."

'Furious 8' Stuck at the Starting Line: Universal's Director Dilemma

No franchise is more important to Universal Pictures than Fast & Furious, the car-racing series whose seventh installment grossed $1.5 billion worldwide this year. But the effort to mount an eighth picture is proving more difficult than first imagined for the studio.

As its announced April 2017 release date inches closer and screenwriter Chris Morgan works on the script, Universal still has not found a director for the next outing. And in this case, it seems that the job will involve more than just the usual challenge of overseeing a big-budget thrill ride. There also is the recent exit of studio co-president of production Jeffrey Kirschenbaum, who oversaw the series, and the prickly matter of star-producer Vin Diesel.

Following the death of Paul Walker in November 2013, Universal enlisted Diesel, 48, as the face of the series, updating fans on Furious 7 via his social media and putting him forward to speak about the cast and crew's desire to finish the movie, which was about halfway completed when Walker died in a car accident. Diesel not only was a veteran of the series going back to the 2001 original (though he took a break, returning for the fourth installment), but he had the credibility of having been close to Walker, personally.

Furious 7 nearly doubled the $789 million haul for Fast & Furious 6. Some of that number likely is attributable to curiosity stirred by Walker's death as well as Universal's shrewd handling of the tricky production, marketing and publicity issues. But with a hit of that magnitude, film studio chair Donna Langley was eager to re-enlist Furious 7 director James Wan, who emerged from his horror-franchise past (Saw, Insidious) into major action with his big-budget breakout.

But while Universal had contractual options on Wan to direct the eighth and ninth installments, the filmmaker informed the studio before Furious 7 was finished that he instead wished to direct a sequel to his 2013 hit The Conjuring for New Line Cinema. Universal accepted Wan's decision, but according to sources, when Justin Lin, who directed the third through sixth movies in the series, chose to make the next Star Trek rather than return for Furious 8, the studio went back to Wan with an especially rich plea (one source describes it as "life-altering money") to direct at least one more installment.

But Wan, 38, is said to have felt that rather than life altering, the deal could have been life ending. Insiders confirm that the $200 million, two-year production of Furious 7 was so demanding that it actually compromised Wan's health. In addition to the trauma surrounding Walker's death, which required rewriting the script and concocting elaborate special effects (and the use of his brothers as body doubles) to resurrect the actor for key scenes, sources say Diesel proved extraordinarily difficult. As a producer, he is said to have questioned even small details on elaborate action sequences, often holding up the complex production. He also was known to summon filmmakers to repeated late-night script sessions to make him comfortable with his character and dialogue.

Diesel's spokesperson says any suggestion that he was tough to work with is "complete nonsense," and Wan's rep denies any on-set friction beyond the pressure of soldiering on after Walker's death. Furious producer Neal Moritz adds, "Obviously, if there was any issue, we wouldn't be making the eighth [film] with [Diesel] right now." And, in a statement, a Universal spokesperson says "the studio and filmmakers loved working with James on Furious 7, but he was never in the mix for an eighth film due to a scheduling conflict with The Conjuring 2. We are actively casting and searching for the right director for the next chapter of the franchise."

To that end, Universal has put out feelers to agents for experienced action directors (including Non-Stop's Jaume Collet-Serra, who wasn't available) and relative newcomers. Sources say Diesel must be consulted on director choices but does not have veto power over studio picks. (Some at Universal fear that Diesel will, at some point, want to direct one of the films himself. The ambition seems to be there: In 2009, Diesel wrote and directed an 18-minute short, Los Bandoleros, that was intended to set up his return in the fourth Fast film.) But another source says Diesel wouldn't want to expose himself to such scrutiny on a high-profile extravaganza.

All of this is happening without Kirschenbaum, who left Universal to partner with producer Joe Roth in August after being credited with working with Morgan and Wan to reshape the Furious 7 script and pull together the film under extraordinary circumstances. And there is that April 2017 deadline. Universal, riding high with a record year and nearly $6.3 billion in worldwide gross, is looking to plot a course without Walker for at least three more movies. And on that point, one source close to the series says Diesel is fully committed to the franchise: "Vin is tireless. It may be difficult, but he is trying to win with this thing."

Vin Diesel
20 mins ·

The fans of the Fast & Furious SAGA are the best fans in the world... Since I became the Producer in 2008, you have been with me every step of the way... literally giving me feedback that proved invaluable. Thank you.
My producing partner Neal would love for me to just sign off on a director, but this is too special a franchise, so these matters have to be very carefully handled. To be clear, NO ONE has been offered to helm Fast 8 yet... let alone seen a script.
Universal has been so good to me and so trusting of the vision... they have been like family... I promised the studio I would deliver one last Trilogy to end the saga.
I will announce the directors on my next post...