What started out as a series of movies about street racing and heists has become more fantastical and blockbuster-y over the last decade, but the Fast and the Furious franchise is still riding strong. In recent years, there's been a new entry in the series to look forward to every other year, although next year will see the release of the Hobbs and Shaw spinoff, with Fast and Furious 9 arriving in 2020. Regardless, when asked if this release pattern was intentional, producer Neal Moritz explained how unlike the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there isn't a need to adhere to as strict a schedule with the Fast and the Furious movies. As he put it:
Luckily, we haven't been dictated that much by the calendar, the studio needing a movie for that particular time. We've always just gone ahead, tried to make the best movie we could, and then figure out what the next one is. It's different than the Marvel movies, where they have a 10-year plan. We let it be a little more organic. Make the best movie possible, see what things worked the best, and what relationships we could use to tell the next story.
Neal Mortiz has a point. While most of the MCU movies can be enjoyed on their own, they're still pieces of a grand puzzle that form together to present an even bigger story, as evidenced by Avengers: Infinity War. Marvel Studios is playing the long game, so it's important for Kevin Feige and the rest of the leadership team to plan out their moves years in advance. The Fast and the Furious franchise, on the other hand, has more leeway. Granted, each movie has never arrived more than three years after its predecessor, but as Moritz noted while speaking with THR, it's about making a good movie first, and then from there deciding where to take these heroes and their cars next. Whether that follow-up arrives two years later, three years later or even longer (although I doubt Universal would want it to be longer), it's a step-by-step process rather than thinking extremely far in advance.
Last year's The Fate of the Furious was another box office success for the Fast and the Furious franchise, taking in over $1.2 billion worldwide and becoming the third highest-grossing movie of 2017. Next up is Hobbs and Shaw, which will see Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham's characters going on their own adventure, and then Fast and Furious 9 takes us back to the main narrative. The film series is set to conclude with Fast and Furious 10 in 2021, although if more spinoffs are ordered, perhaps the franchise's lifespan as a whole will extend.
The Fast and the Furious franchise will return when Hobbs and Shaw arrives on August 2, 2019, with Fast and Furious 9 racing into theaters on April 10, 2020. As for the movies coming out this year, you can find release date information in our 2018 premiere guide.
