Vin Diesel makes shock announcement about final ‘Fast & Furious' film
The actor, 57, surprised fans at FuelFest in Pomona, Calif., on Saturday and made a huge announcement about the franchise's upcoming final film, including the possible return of Paul Walker's character.
'Yesterday I was with Universal Studios. The studio said to me, 'Vin, can we please have the finale of 'Fast & Furious' [in] April 2027,'' Diesel told the cheering crowd. 'I said, 'Under three conditions.''
7 Vin Diesel attends CinemaCon 2023.
WireImage
He explained, 'The first is to bring the franchise back to L.A.! The second thing was to return to the car culture, to the street racing.'
'The third thing,' Diesel said, 'was reuniting Dom and Brian O'Conner. That is what you're going to get in the finale.'
7 Vin Diesel, Paul Walker in 2001's 'The Fast and the Furious.'
©MCA/Courtesy Everett Collection
Walker played Brian O'Conner in six 'Fast & Furious' movies before he died in a car crash in Nov. 2013 at age 40.
In 2015's 'Fast & Furious 7,' producers used CGI, doubles and Walker's brothers, Caleb and Cody, as stand-ins to give the late actor's character a proper sendoff.
7 Paul Walker and Vin Diesel in 'Fast & Furious 4.'
©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection
VFX supervisor Joe Letteri told The Hollywood Reporter in 2015 how they added dialogue in Brian's appearance in the final scene.
'Most of the CG shots had some kind of dialogue,' Letteri said. 'The sound editors had to craft the vocal performance out of [existing] dialog from Paul, and we had to animate to that.'
Years after Walker's death, his daughter Meadow, 26, made a cameo in 2023's 'Fast X' as a flight attendant. Walker also appeared in the film via archival footage from 'Fast & Furious 5.'
7 Vin Diesel and Paul Walker in 'The Fast and the Furious.'
Getty Images
7 Johnny Strong, Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Chad Lindberg in 'The Fast and the Furious.'
©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection
Diesel is set to return for the follow-up to the tenth 'Fast and Furious' movie, which also starred Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, John Cena, Jordana Brewster, Brie Larson, Jason Statham, Helen Mirren and Rita Moreno.
The film, which was directed by Louis Leterrier, made over $700 million at the worldwide box office.
7 Vin Diesel in 'Fast Five.'
Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection
Leterrier, who is returning to direct 'Fast & Furious 11,' teased the upcoming project in a 2023 interview with Entertainment Weekly.
'You're going to cry. Part 2 is going to be a sad one,' the director said. 'There are some tears in your future, let me tell you.'
7 Matt Schulze, Michelle Rodriguez, Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Johnny Strong, Jordana Brewster, Rick Yune and Chad Lindberg in 'The Fast and the Furious.'
©Universal/Courtesy Everett Collection
Leterrier further teased, 'I love twists. And if you like twists, you're going to love the next one — twists on twists on twists.'
'Fast & Furious 11' does not have an official release date.
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It isn't clear which company is designing Miral's Potter area but Thinkwell would be the logical choice given its work on Warner Bros. World and the Tours. Indeed, what Universal's lands lack is the Tour's authenticity and what the Tour lacks is rides so Abu Dhabi could offer the best of both worlds. With the government's deep pockets, the designers could use every trick in their spell books to conjure up the definitive Potter area. Middle East business title MEED recently claimed that it will include "three new rides, retail outlets, and food and beverage facilities". It added that the value of the construction contract is between $545 million and $816 million and the area will add 40,000 square meters to the footprint of Warner Bros. World, which is an increase of around 26%. The report suggested that Canadian engineering firm EllisDon is the project consultant while French firm Egis is the lead designer. It added that Emirates Electrical & Instrumentation Company, is already working on the project along with another local firm NSCC International, which is reportedly carrying out enabling works. It is important to note that construction projects in Abu Dhabi display signs showing the contractors and no photos have been published of one stating that it is for the Potter area. Themeparx, the leading source of theme park construction photos, posted an image of a sign which states that it relates to the 'Warner Bros. World Phase 2 Expansion' though this doesn't necessarily include Potter. The reason for this is that Miral has also announced that two new attractions will be added to Warner Bros. World's DC comics superheroes lands. Themeparx noted that there may already be evidence of where the entrance to one of these new rides will be located as a washroom area between Metropolis and Gotham City has been closed off with temporary banners saying 'Lexcorp' – the company run by Superman's arch-enemy Lex Luthor In response to MEED's initial report about the Potter construction bid submissions, Miral said that it "does not comment on speculative and inaccurate information from unknown sources." It is unclear what aspect of the article Miral was referring to though there is no doubt that it was not entirely accurate. That's because the article also stated that "the Abu Dhabi project will be the world's sixth Harry Potter-themed park. The others are in Florida and California in the US, Beijing in China, Osaka in Japan and Leavesden in the UK," the latter of which is not a theme park. What is for certain is that the Abu Dhabi Potter area, whatever form it takes, has had a long lead time. As far back as January 2023 Al Zaabi told this author that "my team, they are going in and out the US to go through many stages of design and many drafts and versions...I'm sure the quality of the master plan, the quality of the design, will be either at the same level or I'm pushing my team to be even better than what you have seen in Warner Bros." He added that the Potter area "will be a gamechanger for us." The high caliber of Warner Bros. World convinced the studio to entrust perhaps its most beloved Intellectual Property (IP) to Miral making it the only theme park operator outside Universal with Potter rides. In 2023 Al Zaabi revealed to this author that the "discussion started in 2018, literally one hour before the grand opening on 24th July. Kevin [Tsujihara] was here, at that time, he was chairman of Waner Bros. Mohamed Al Mubarak, His Excellency, our chairman, and Pam Lifford [president of consumer products] from Warner Bros, she was there. And myself and my team, Peter [van Roden, Warner Bros. senior vice president of global themed entertainment], was there as well. And we discussed, okay, what's next? "And we said, okay, let's do market research, see what's the right IP for this region. We did a very thorough study, and Harry Potter came out on top of the list of that study. We did a study in India, we did a study in China, in Europe, and this region, the GCC. And the result was Harry Potter. It took us some time to discuss, agree on commercial. But I think what helped us to close that deal is Warner Bros. they saw the quality of what we can deliver and the quality of the service and operation." Although it is unknown when Potter's new area will open, Abu Dhabi is already rolling out the red carpet for him. Earlier this week Harry Potter: The Exhibition opened on the city's museum district Saadiyat Island. It is the exhibition's first-ever stop in the Middle East and gives guests a close up look at props from the films as well as an opportunity to take part in iconic activities from them such as mixing potions or scoring at Quidditch. It runs until September 21 and earlier that month the Harry Potter Film Concert Series will come to Yas Island's Etihad Arena. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets will be shown on a soaring 40-foot screen whilst the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra plays John Williams' sweeping score. It could prove to be a blessing in disguise that Miral has spent so long giving a magic touch to its Potter plans. Since they came to light in 2022, Warner has announced that it will reboot the series with new actors on its HBO streaming platform in 2027. It could cast a dark spell on Universal's Potter attractions as they all heavily feature the stars and sets from the original films. However, Abu Dhabi might want to integrate the new actors in its attractions from the start if the new show is a success. There has of course been another significant development since Yas Island's Potter attraction was announced. As this report forecast, a Disney park will be coming to Abu Dhabi over the coming years so the Potter site will have to be substantial enough to compete with that. We will soon find out what tricks are up its sleeve.
