Ever since Justin Lin’s Fast & Furious got the whole Family back together in 2009, the franchise’s films have been coming out on a biennial basis. Fast & Furious in April 2009, Fast Five in April 2011, Fast & Furious 6 in May 2013, Furious 7 in April 2015, The Fate of the Furious in April 2017, Hobbs & Shaw in August 2019, F9 in 2021, and Fast X in 2023. That is remarkably consistent, and it’s a consistency that isn’t a great look for the promised final chapter. The woefully underrated Fast X ends on a cliffhanger, yet the two-year interval has come and gone, and not only do we not have a final Fast movie, but we don’t even really have any word on when we might get it.
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Naturally, this has to do with F9 making $500 million less than Fate and Fast X making even less than F9 (on an absolutely gargantuan $378.8 million price tag, much less). Will we still end up getting a Fast 11 or Fast X2? Almost certainly, but even then, it’s going to leave a hole in the career future of Vin Diesel, who has long served as the head of the Fast & Furious Family table. He’s trying to fill this gap with two sequels to his other, non-Dominic Toretto roles, but will they be able to keep his career’s foot on the gas?
No One Asked for The Last Witch Hunter 2: The Lion’s Oath but It’s Coming Anyway
In 2015, Diesel starred as an immortal witch-hunter who, as one might expect, has to save the entire world from being taken over. And, in spite of Diesel and co-star Elijah Wood’s best efforts, it was eviscerated by critics (17% on Rotten Tomatoes) and didn’t do much better with general audiences.
That applied to its financial returns just as much as it applied to how general audiences felt about its quality. At least, in the United States. Domestically, the film netted a paltry $27.4 million against a substantial price tag of $90 million. Overseas, however, it scored about $120 million.
In short, because of that overseas figure, we’re apparently getting a sequel, 10 years after the movie was swiftly forgotten. It is a very, very strange move, but one that is apparently being fast-tracked. Michael Caine is even coming out of retirement to reprise his role of Dolan 36th (the predecessor to Wood’s Dolan 37th). Few could have predicted that the film that would have gotten Caine out of retirement would be The Last Witch Hunter 2: The Lion’s Oath.
Riddick: Furya Has Some Potential but It’s Been Brewing for a While
After the failure of The Chronicles of Riddick, Diesel and writer-director David Twohy decided to take the Riddick franchise back down to the studs with the simply titled Riddick. Like with Pitch Black it told a restrained story with a limited budget and an R rating. It was also like Pitch Black in that it turned a modest profit.
In other words, making Riddick: Furya makes a degree of sense on paper. And, supposedly, it started shooting back in August of 2024, with Diesel posting some Instagram photos along the way. However, no release date has been set.
Riddick: Furya will take the title character back to his home, where he’ll find fellow Furyans with whom he can bond. Outside that not much is known of the film, but it will be interesting to learn whether the budget was kept in the same realm as Riddick‘s in 2013 ($38 million then, $53 million now). If so, it could turn a nice profit, but even then, it would be hard to imagine Richard B. Riddick extending much longer than four live-action films.
In short, Diesel is almost exclusively working in franchises at this point. His last four movies have all been franchise films. Specifically, F9, Thor: Love and Thunder, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and Fast X. His time as Groot isn’t necessarily over at this point, but that’s a pretty restrictive gig to begin with. It doesn’t even feature him onscreen. Once Fast speeds off into the sunset it’s hard to imagine him kicking off a new franchise, like how Bloodshot failed to take off. Perhaps he could find some more projects that test his limits, like 2006’s Find Me Guilty. But, for now, it just looks like we’re getting more The Last Witch Hunter and Riddick (and, who knows, maybe some more xXx).
Stream The Last Witch Hunter on Hulu and Riddick on Starz.
Are you excited for Riddick: Furya or The Last Witch Hunter 2: The Lion’s Oath? Let us know in the comments.
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Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics
