Given how speedy the gang in the Fast And Furious movies usually likes to drive, it somehow feels odd to report that the franchise is hitting the brakes for any reason. Yet the ninth film in the ever-expanding series will not now arrive in April 2019, but April 2020.
Universal has not offered a reason for the shift, though the film doesn't yet have a director on board. In fact, there are no concrete details about the movie itself or what will happen in it, besides the now standard vehicular madness and lots of talk about family. The most recent entry, The Fate Of The Furious (known in the UK by the much more pedestrian moniker Fast And Furious 8), earned $1.2 billion following its release this year, so you know the studio is still committed to the series. The 10th had been pencilled in for 2021, so unless all involved are planning to shoot them back to back, that one will also be on the move.
Vin Diesel and most of the cast are expected to return, especially as this represents the middle chunk of the latest planned trilogy of movies. The studio is opening up the Easter weekend slot by shifting the release of DreamWorks Animation's Trolls sequel, with the 'toon effort (once again featuring the voices of Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake) now scheduled for Valentine's Day 2020.