5/29/2016

First Look At Dwayne Johnson In 'Fast 8', Hobbs Spinoff Teased

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Learned from his days in the WWE, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is always good for hyping himself and future projects through social media. Not only does he give his millions (AND MILLIONS!!!) of fans updates from the set, but he's also dropping first-look photos, such as this Instagram image of him as Hobbs in Fast 8.

EXCLUSIVE FIRST LOOK: #HOBBS #F8 When you strip a man of all he has. All that's important to him. You force him to return to his roots.. and sometimes that's a very dangerous and twisted place. If I was going to return for another FAST & FURIOUS I wanted to come in and disrupt the franchise in a cool way that got fans fired up and their blood pumping to see a new version of Hobbs and his "Daddy's gotta go to work" mentality and set the table in a cool way for where the character goes in the future. Maybe it's a spinoff movie. Maybe it's more #FF movies. Or hell maybe Hobbs just gets on his motorcycle and rides off into the sunset never to be seen again. Either way, I've had a solid first week of shooting, good to be back with the ohana, good to work again w/ my bud and director F. Gary Gray and our home studio of UNIVERSAL, as always have been the best partners to me and my #SevenBucksProds team. Most importantly... you guys around the world will really dig this new version of the role, 'cause as we always say, disrupters dent the universe. #Hobbs #TwistedRoots #1Disrupter #1Savage #F8
A photo posted by therock (@therock) on

Beyond the black & white, the ripped pythons, that beard, and the enigmatic stare, the photo comes with a caption that suggests Hobbs could be ready for his own spinoff flick...

"When you strip a man of all he has. All that's important to him. You force him to return to his roots.. and sometimes that's a very dangerous and twisted place. If I was going to return for another FAST & FURIOUS I wanted to come in and disrupt the franchise in a cool way that got fans fired up and their blood pumping to see a new version of Hobbs and his "Daddy's gotta go to work" mentality and set the table in a cool way for where the character goes in the future. Maybe it's a spinoff movie. Maybe it's more #FF movies. Or hell maybe Hobbs just gets on his motorcycle and rides off into the sunset never to be seen again."

We know that Universal hopes to extend the life of the franchise with sequels and spinoffs, and talks of a solo Hobbs movie have been going on for a few years now. Producer Hiram Garcia recently gave the idea a thumbs up, and Johnson isn't shy about getting fans' hopes up about it, either...


There's no doubt the film would be huge if it ever happened. Johnson is unquestionably the top action star in the country right now, but it can be argued he's also one of the top comedy stars. He's been busy doing press for Central Intelligence which sees him teaming up with Kevin Hart. That's why it has taken him this long to hit the Fast 8 set. His schedule isn't likely to lighten up any time soon, either. Besides sequels to Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and San Andreas, he's also got a Jumanji remake, a Shazam! film for Warner Bros., an adaptation of The Janson Directive which will kick off a Robert Ludlum cinematic universe (the same universe as Jason Bourne, by the way), and he recently agreed to star in the China-set disaster film, Skyscraper.

With all of that, where could a Hobbs movie fit in? Only time will tell, but if Johnson wants it to happen you can bet that it will. Fast 8 opens April 17th 2017.