Furious 7: What’s Next For The Mega-Selling Franchise?

Producer Neil Moritz, who was tasked to finish Furious 7 after the death of Paul Walker, declared it to be the most challenging movie of his career. Despite its box office success, the latest installment of the Fast and Furious franchise may be the last. The latest movie opened with a weekend total of $143.6 billion in ticket sales, making it the fourth largest opening in history for a movie weekend.

Furious 7 faced many challenges and obstacles, including the death of one of its stars, Paul Walker, who was killed in a car crash midway through the filming of the movie. The possible eighth installment in the Fast and Furious series, Universal Studio’s most successful franchise to date, faces even more challenges.

Both directors of previous films are unavailable to film the next movie due to previous commitments. James Wan, who directed Furious 7, is currently directing The Conjuring 2. Justin Lin, who directed previous installments, is unavailable due to Star Trek 3 commitments. Currently no writers have been selected to write the screenplay either.

Other obstacles include the contracts of the other stars involved. Although Dwayne Johnson’s contract is renewed on a picture by picture basis, the other stars all had long term contracts to film the series. Now those contracts have to be renegotiated.

Moritz doesn’t seem worried though.

“Honestly, we’re just bathing in the success of [Furious 7]…

“We’ll probably get together in a week or so to talk. [The story] is going to have to be something enticing for all of us. It has to be as good as or better [than Fast & Furious 7 ].”

Installment seven of the Fast and Furious series was bittersweet for the cast and crew. In addition to having to film new sequences with stand ins for Paul Walker, they also created a tribute to him for the end of the film. Composer Bryan Tyler who created the dramatic scores for five of the films, may be back to score the next installment. Tyler thought that the tribute created to send off Walker was appropriate for saying goodbye to him.

“I always thought he was leaning towards that exit. I could see his character saying, ‘Guys, I gotta hang up the stirrups, because this is dangerous.’ Cars flying out of buildings, and Mia [Jordana Brewster] and his son are really on his mind. It makes sense storywise, but it crossed into real life that way.”

Do you think there should be sequel to Furious 7, or is it time for the Fast and Furious crew to hang it up?

[Photo Credit Spokesman Recorder]