The Rock Could Get His Own Fast & Furious Spin-Off Movie
Hobbs is coming back strong.
We already all know that The Rock doesn't like to sleep. If he's not making 8 movies at once, he's in the gym getting cut and showing everyone else how it's done. The man is a machine, positively dripping inspiration and motivation and there's no end in sight.
He's just confirmed that his Big Trouble In Little China remake is still going ahead, and today sees the announcement that another actioner - Skyscraper - has been picked up by Legendary after a bidding war. It's been pitched as Die Hard in China (a key market for Legendary after their $3.5 billion part-buyout by Chinese firm Wanda) and is set to be directed by Central Intelligence helmer Rawson Marshall Thurber.
And not only that, but Johnson may also be getting his own Fast & Furious spin-off. According to Hiram Garcia, producer of the Fast & Furious franchise, his Agent Hobbs character is set for expansion in Fast 8 (as The Rock himself confirmed), and it may not stop there.
"I've been in the mix with Chris Morgan, the writer, really dialling in the Hobbs character, which is one of our all-time favorite characters. Hobbs was one of the first characters we merged together on and when Fast approached [Dwayne Johnson], telling him about the character they wanted to create, [Dwayne Johnson] and I were able to sit down and craft this guy that we would just laugh out loud at the lines we would come up with. When you can say you're gonna put a hurt on someone so bad you'll make their mama wish they kept their legs closed, stuff like that where we can't even finish the line before laughing - that's the fun we love."
It's not surprising then that Garcia would like to see a spin-off for Hobbs:
"I think there's always been conversations for that. The scheduling of it all is a challenge but there are always talks about a potential spinoff movie and what we can do with it. DJ and I were just talking about that the other day - our visions for it. There's a real goal for that and we can have enough fun with that where we've earned that now with the audience. He's a beloved enough character that they'd love to see what a ride with him would be like in his world. We have tons of history that we've crafted for this guy that we continue to sprinkle in throughout the movies. You'll see a little bit more in this movie but ultimately we want to take that ride and spin him off and have some fun with it."
That's got to be music to The Rock's movie fans. He's great as Hobbs and though Fast & Furious 7 made a shedload of money, it would have been improved if Hobbs' role hadn't been restricted thanks to scheduling conflicts.
Quite how The Rock hopes to actually film anything he's got planned without scheduling conflicts is the real issue. But at least he's never going to be so poor he ends up in TNA.