The 'F9' director declares he will 'never say never' to the idea of merging the two successful franchises, while 'Fast and Furious' star Michelle Rodriguez says she's 'all in' for the potential crossover.
- Apr 15, 2021
AceShowbiz - A big studio will surely benefit from having more than one hit film franchise. Just look at Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros., which have been reaping from the box office success of "Godzilla vs. Kong" based on two of their giant monster properties. Now, Universal Pictures may be the next studio to follow suit by merging its "Jurassic World" and "The Fast & Furious" film franchise.
Teasing the potential crossover was "F9" director Justin Lin, who appeared at a press conference along with the cast to talk about the upcoming movie. When a journalist threw a question about a possible "Jurassic World" crossover, the filmmaker replied, "Well, I'll never say never to anything. And the fact that part of our philosophy is not to ever be boxed in or labeled ... that's all I will say."
Michelle Rodriguez sounded even more eager for it. "I love it, dude! I'm all in!" she weighed on the potential crossover. The Letty Ortiz depicter claimed that they had been tossing the idea behind the scenes, saying, "We were talking about this yesterday. It's so funny, but I was talking about this yesterday."
Of why a crossover could be in the future of the "Fast & Furious" franchise, she explained, "Because once you reach a certain pinnacle, there's nowhere to go but to cross-brand and merge. It's what big corporations do with each other when they get too big, you know what I mean? You just have to brand and merge with each other."
She went on noting how it would be made easier since both properties belong to the same studio, "But the only thing standing in the way is lawyers, and studios. Because usually the brands that you're trying to merge belong to different studios or whatever. But if it's under the same umbrella? I don't know. I'm just saying it works."
While the "Fast & Furious" has never merged with another franchise, it has spawned a spin-off, "Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw" (2019), which stars Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Jason Statham. As for "Jurassic World", the franchise started with "Jurassic Park" in 1993, before Chris Pratt takes the lead of the revived franchise in the 2015 film. A third film in the new trilogy, "Jurassic World: Dominion", has wrapped production and is set for a June 2022 release.
