Tyrese Gibson mocks Hobbs and Shaw's low box office opening weekend. Over the past several years, the Fast and Furious franchise has grown into Universal's most reliable and consistent cash cow. Beginning with 2011's Fast Five, the series enjoyed a renaissance with newfound critical praise and commercial prowess. The action movies are so successful, the studio felt confident to green light a spinoff feature, this month's Hobbs and Shaw. As the title suggests, the film pairs Dwayne Johnson's Luke Hobbs with Jason Statham's Deckard Shaw as the two frenemies team up to take down a new villain.
Fast and Furious fans might have been excited to see the property expand beyond Dominic Toretto's story, but at least one member of the franchise ensemble didn't share that enthusiasm. Tyrese Gibson, who plays the character of Roman Pearce, has been quite critical of Hobbs and Shaw for years, blaming Johnson for Fast and Furious 9's delay and calling the spinoff selfish. Now, he's taken the opportunity to comment on Hobbs and Shaw's less-than-stellar box office.
In a since-deleted Instagram post (hat tip The Shade Room), Gibson reignited his feud with Johnson, saying "Breaking up the family doesn't have the value that one would assume it does." Hobbs and Shaw grossed $60 million at the domestic box office last weekend, the franchise's worst debut in 10 years.
Universal was hoping Hobbs and Shaw could be a launching pad for more spinoffs and sequels. The mainline Fast and Furious series is coming to an end in a couple of years with the release of Fast and Furious 10, and the studio is likely interested in continuing the franchise in one form or another. Hobbs and Shaw was in some ways an experiment to test the waters and see what kind of an audience there was for a Fast and Furious expanded universe. It'll be interesting to see how Universal's plans evolve as Hobbs and Shaw's run continues. The spinoff had a budget of $200 million, which is more expensive than many of the recent Fast and Furious films. Universal clearly thought this had the potential to be a huge summer blockbuster, but it had a soft global opening of $180 million.
Hobbs and Shaw has yet to open in China, so there's hope for it yet. Still, this is the latest instance of a franchise spinoff not being as big a draw as the mainline series. No matter what the property is - be it Fast and Furious, Star Wars, or Bourne - there's always more general interest when an installment is part of the proper narrative. If Universal decides Hobbs and Shaw was ultimately successful enough to make more spinoffs, they'll probably want to keep costs and check so it has a better shot of being massively profitable.
Source: Tyrese Gibson (via The Shade Room)