Fast & Furious 10 — the movie’s working title for now — is pushing back its release in theaters by six weeks from April 7, 2023, the beginning of Easter weekend, to May 19, 2023, Universal said Tuesday.
Justin Lin is directing the penultimate installment in the long-running cars-to-spies franchise.
Universal already had the May 19 date reserved for an “untitled event” film.
The studio did not provide a reason for the shifts. The Fast & Furious pic will now open closer to the lucrative Memorial Day corridor. In terms of competition, other event pics dated for early summer 2023 include The Little Mermaid (May 26) and Shazam! Fury of the Gods (June 2).
Universal isn’t giving up the Easter slot entirely and, in a twinned move, said that an untitled DreamWorks Animation film will move from March 24, 2023 to April 7, 2023.
Justin Lin will direct both the 10th and 11th films in the Fast franchise, which will be the conclusion of the core movies. Lin has directed five Fast films beginning with 2006’s The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.
Vin Diesel and franchise regulars such as Sung Kang, Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Nathalie Emmanuel and Michelle Rodriguez are all expected to return. The mid-credits scene from F9 suggested Jason Statham’s character will play some part too.
The Fast franchise, which began in 2001, has made $6.3 billion globally, with that figure including the 2019 spinoff Hobbs & Shaw. The most recent installment of the core franchise, 2021’s Lin-directed F9, grossed $726.6 million worldwide despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
