After helming the last four films in the franchise, including next month’s highly anticipated Fast and Furious 6, Justin Lin has decided to opt out of directing the next instalment in the franchise, Fast and Furious 7.
THR report that the director informed studios late on Wednesday night that he wouldn’t be coming back to helm the seventh instalment, with Vin Diesel saying last month that the sequel is set to film back in Los Angeles this summer.
The studio are reportedly keen to get the next sequel in cinemas for Summer 2014. And Lin felt he wouldn’t have enough time to work on both Fast and Furious 6 in the coming weeks, whilst prepping for Fast and Furious 7 at the same time, believing the overlap wouldn’t result in his best work.
The exit is clearly not a result of any clashes – in creativity or otherwise – but rather a simple issue over time.
Lin has been a huge part of taking the franchise to new heights, which Universal are without a doubt indebted to him for. He came on board for The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, and has helmed every film since. Fast and Furious really upped the stakes back in 2009, and then Lin did it again with the game-changing Fast Five in 2011.
With Fast and Furious 6 expected to take things even further when it hits at the end of next month, we’re really looking forward to seeing what happens in Fast and Furious 7.
Initially, the plan was for Lin to shoot the sixth and seventh films back-to-back, but that was ultimately decided against early on. And with the studio still looking to get the seventh film into cinemas for next summer, a decision is expected as early as next week for who will come on board in Lin’s place.
There’s no word yet on what Lin will take up next, with Fast and Furious 6 being his main priority at the moment. But we’re definitely interested to see what the director will line up next.
Summer 2014 is already looking absolutely awesome, and very busy in terms of release dates, so it should also be interesting to see where Universal would slot it on the calendar.
Fast and Furious 6 is going to be opening against Warner Bros.’ The Hangover Part III, suggesting that the studio aren’t afraid of a little healthy competition. But with a newcomer at the helm, they might not want the same scheduling conflict.
May to August 2014 already includes the releases of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Godzilla, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Good Dinosaur, Jurassic Park 4, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Tranformers 4, Maleficent, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Hercules, Jupiter Ascending, and Guardians of the Galaxy, with a rate of one blockbuster almost every week in those months. So unless Fast and Furious 7 is aiming for a mid-/late-August 2014 release date, Universal might well be looking at a July 11th release date, coming one week after Maleficent and one before X-Men: Days of Future Past, if they want to take a weekend and mark it out for themselves alone.
With a decision expected very soon as to who will come on board to direct, we’ll hopefully also be hearing exactly when the studio are looking to put the sequel into theatres next summer. More as we get it.
Fast and Furious 6 will be hitting hard in regular and IMAX theatres on 24th May in the UK and US. Given the awesome mid-credits scene in Fast Five, I think we’ve got a lot to look forward to in the credits of next month’s blockbuster as well, teeing up next summer’s Fast and Furious 7. I can’t wait.
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