Summary
- Hobbs & Shaw was a successful spinoff movie, making $760 million at the box office on a $200 million budget.
- Despite its success, a sequel to Hobbs & Shaw seems unlikely, leaving fans disappointed.
- The future of Fast and Furious spinoffs is uncertain, as previous attempts have not been as successful and planned spinoffs may not materialize.
Following Fast X, Hobbs & Shaw 2 seems even unlikelier now than ever, and that's bad for the Fast and Furious franchise. Hobbs & Shaw is the spinoff movie that follows two of the franchise's lovable antiheroes; Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham). The 2019 movie is fun, focused, and features two charming lead actors with great chemistry, which are things that the main series has lacked with its most recent releases. Hobbs & Shaw also saw a great run at the box office when it was released too, making $760 million off a budget of $200 million (via Box Office Mojo).
Following the success of the movie, Universal quickly greenlit a Hobbs & Shaw sequel, but after more than four years, there haven't been any updates. Unfortunately, the movie seems to have entered development hell, and Fast X seemingly all but confirms that the franchise is continuing without another hilarious team-up action movie. The Fast X post-credits scene sees Hobbs return, responding to a threat from new franchise villain Dante Reyes, which sets up a completely different movie. However, following a string of box office underperformance, Hobbs & Shaw 2 is exactly what the Fast & Furious series needs to survive.
Hobbs & Shaw Was Successful (But Still Hasn’t Launched A Franchise)
Hobbs & Shaw made $760 million on a $200 million budget (via Box Office Mojo). While the Hobbs and Shaw team-up movie earned less than Furious 7 and The Fate of the Furious, both of which broke the billion-dollar mark, it’s still an impressive result for a spinoff movie. Not many movie franchises manage to replicate the success of the original films through spinoffs. Hobbs & Shaw even had a better box office result than F9 and Fast X. Still, more than three years after Hobbs & Shaw, there has yet to be a promising update on a potential Hobbs & Shaw 2.
Given that Hobbs & Shaw happened right before Dwayne Johnson left the Fast and Furious series, it was expected that the spinoff would lead to a new series of Fast and Furious films led by The Rock and Jason Statham. A $760 million box office seemed like good enough of a result to kickstart this new Fast and Furious franchise, but Hobbs & Shaw 2 became more unlikely by the day.
Can Other Fast & Furious Spinoffs Work After Fast & Furious 11?
While Hobbs & Shaw 2's delays have several explanations, including Dwayne Johnson’s schedule according to McCormick, it's still surprising that the first Fast and Furious spinoff didn’t lead anywhere. For a franchise that has grossed over $6.2 billion at the box office in the last 20 years, continuing Fast and Furious past the main movies should be easy. Hobbs & Shaw being released after two back-to-back billion-dollar Fast and Furious installments made the film’s results seem less impressive to the studio in comparison. This raises the question of how successful Fast and Furious can really be without Toretto and his family.
Fast and Furious tried to move beyond Dominic Toretto and Brian O'Conner with The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, which was a box office disappointment. Universal wants to make a Fast & Furious Cipher spinoff with Charlize Theron, and there has been talk about an all-female team-up movie for years. However, between the 2006 movie and Hobbs & Shaw, not only does a Hobbs & Shaw sequel seem unlikely, but it's likely that many of the other planned Fast and Furious spinoffs won't see the light of day either. Though Fast and Furious will most likely continue in some form after Fast & Furious 11, the spinoff strategy should be reconsidered.
What We Know About Hobbs And Shaw 2
Dwayne Johnson's Seven Bucks production company confirmed that Hobbs & Shaw 2 is in active development in November 2021, but not much else was revealed. After months of quiet, Johnson's return in Fast X opened the door for new information. There is still going to be a Johnson-centric Fast and Furious spinoff with a focus on Fast X villain Dante Reyes and will reportedly be released before Fast and Furious 11. Though a Hobbs & Shaw sequel hasn't been outright canceled, it's likely that the ideas for Hobbs & Shaw 2 could have been spun into this new spinoff.
