Producer Neal H Moritz has kept his promise. He had said that fans will soon hear about "Fast and Furious 8". And now, it's confirmed with "Fast and Furious 8" finally getting an official release date.
The much-talked about installment of the immensely popular franchise will hit the theatres on 14 April, 2017 — almost two years from now. While "Fast and Furious 7", directed by James Wan, continues to break records, star Vin Diesel (Dom Toretto) made this big announcement during the CinemaCon presentation, on Thursday, followed by an emotional speech.
"The last time I was on this stage I was with my brother Pablo. It's hard for me to even watch that clip and then come out here without being emotional," said Diesel, while announcing the release dates. "Fast and Furious 8" will be the first in the series to be fully-shot and released after the death of Paul Walker. Diesel paid tribute to his late friend saying, "I swear to you and to my brother upstairs (Walker), we are going to make the best movie you've ever seen," he said.
The official title for the project has not been confirmed as yet, but the working title still goes as Furious 8. But many things continue to remain unclear, like: Will Cody replace Paul Walker? Will Justin Lin come back? But despite all this, it appears that Furious 8, indeed is a fate — meant to be, just as Diesel mentioned in his earlier interviews.
While rumours still linger, this is what we have found out about "Fast and Furious 8" so far:
- Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson will return to play their parts in the film.
- Character of Paul Walker (Brian O' Conner) will retire and Cody Walker may play a new character all together.
- Director James Wan has quit and is going to return to the horror genre with "The Conjuring 2".
- Director Justin Lin is most likely to don the director's cap and call the shots for Furious 8, and Furious 9 (if at all that happens).
- The story is expected to take place in New York.
- Kurt Russell's Mr Nobody will return with an expanded role.
- Lucas Black, who reprised the as Sean Boswell briefly in Furious 7, may join Dom's team.