Is there any actor out there who can jumpstart a franchise more effectively than Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson"? In a word: No. His mere presence alone helped catapult Fast Five to a record box office, and he looks to be doing the same with G.I. Joe: Retaliation and Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. To put it simply, The Rock puts asses in seats, which is why his April match with John Cena at WrestleMania is going to break pay-per-view records. Call it a hunch.
Last we heard about further sequels to the Fast and the Furious franchise, plans were afoot for the entire crew to return, including director Justin Lin, for a European set flick that would probably be shot back-to-back. It made sense, with series star Vin Diesel stating that the two movies would encompass one gigantic story, that would be similar to a heist film rather than the street racing stuff that we had grown accustomed to for so long.
While speaking with MTV, Johnson revealed that the plans have changed in the last few months, and that the plan to shoot both films in a row had to be shelved...
Johnson: "I don't think we're going to shoot them back-to-back. We were going to try that because it wouldn't make sense to have the same crew and have everybody there in one place, but I think we're dealing with some weather issues, so from what I know we're going to shoot 'Fast 6' first and then worry about 'Fast 7' a little later."
The story will indeed send the gang overseas, with filming set to take place in the UK and in Germany. How they figure into both movies is still unclear, but Johnson says a start date is targeted for May.
Fast Six has a release planned for May 24th 2013, but you can see a number of the principles well before that. Diesel is currently filming Riddick, the third of his cult favorite Pitch Black series. Johnson can currently be found in Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, and will pop up later this summer in GI Joe: Retaliation.
