James Wan has begun filming on The Conjuring 2, the sequel to his hit horror film led by Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson. But what about that other franchise he recently became a part of, y'know, Fast & Furious? The horror filmmaker made the jump to the blockbuster series with Furious 7 and it did okay with $1.5B (!!!) worldwide. So he's going to come back for Furious 8, right? Well, no, and that's led to a number of problems for Universal Pictures as they try to get the film moving.
According to THR, Universal is stuck trying to find a director for Furious 8, which has a release date set for April 2017. That's not as far away as one might think. Part of the problem may be the difficulties surrounding the last film, which was said to be so grueling that it "compromised" Wan's health. Production troubles on it were public but understandable given the major changes that needed to be made following Paul Walker's death, however behind the scenes some are claiming Vin Diesel was a major headache. One can see why Diesel, who is the face of franchise and has major weight in any creative decisions, would want to be involved with that film more than others.
All that said, Universal is afraid Diesel will want to put his muscle behind Furious 8 in a different way, like being named its director. Rumors are the studio is secretly in fear that this is what Diesel will want, while others say he isn't interested. As for finding someone to actually step behind the camera, Universal had offers rejected by Jaume Collet-Serra (Non-Stop) and the franchise's longest-running helmer, Justin Lin, who is busy with Star Trek Beyond.
So who knows what the heck is going on now, but Universal needs to make a decision soon whether it's Diesel or somebody else. Meanwhile, here's a set photo of Wan from the first day of shooting on The Conjuring 2.
