We know that this day is coming and it comes today. Universal Picture's Fast and Furious franchise will go for another outing on the streets; the sixth to be exact. The yet-untitled sixth installment in the decade-old popular franchise (known now as Fast & Furious 6) has been slated for Memorial Day weekend (24 May) release in the year 2013, according to a story we picked up from Coming Soon and Deadline. Produced by Neal Moritz, the franchise has grossed more than $1.5 billion worldwide since its first movie more than 10 years ago.
The franchise risked stall when a minor spin-off Tokyo Drift did not seem to have the sucker punch, opening to a mediocre result that almost put the street racing franchise into danger. Suddenly, the interest on the franchise rejuvenated and scoring a tremendous box office result, probably due to that all of the familiar faces from the original movie return in 2009's Fast & Furious. The success repeated again when the recent Fast Five grossed nearly $600 million for a lion share of the chest money, along with tagline been "the best in the franchise".
It seems brainer if Universal Pictures would love to do another round, since the post-credit ending perfectly sets up another story which is almost impossible that the sixth will not picked up that. The question remains, will director Justin Lin continues the push for franchise improvement? Back when Fast & Furious was released, he did somehow indicated about making it into a trilogy, so the sixth installment will be much about it. Is Fast and Furious Six heading to Berlin for the next pit stop?
Equally, there isn't any word on how much of the ensemble cast from Fast Five will be returning, but considering that they've established a new heist thriller format, one would expect at least Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Dwayne Johnson, who joined the franchise with the last film, playing a special forces agent sent to stop the streetracin' criminals.
Recently we heard that Vin Diesel may be focusing on continuing his Riddick adventure while Dwayne Johnson is in engagement to take on the role of Roadblock for Paramount's G.I. Joe's sequel. Nevertheless, those projects are aiming for 2012 or early 2013's release, thus may allow them to return.
Deadline is also reporting that Universal has picked June 28, 2013 for the horror-comedy R.I.P.D. (short for "Rest in Peace Department"), starring Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges and directed by Robert Schwentke (Red). That's also produced by Neal Moritz with Michael Fottrell and Mike Richardson from Dark Horse Entertainment.
[SOURCES: Coming Soon, Deadline]
