Dwayne Johnson to return in “Fast & Furious 8”

Freedom grad Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson will be back for “Fast & Furious 8,” as the seventh installment of the “Fast & Furious” franchise breaks records.
On Friday the film which stars Johnson, along with Vin Diesel and the late Paul Walker, became the fastest movie to gross $1 billion worldwide in just 17 days. Having earned $1.153 billion, it is now the seventh highest-grossing film of all time.

Johnson told MTV News that “Fast & Furious 8” might be set in New York City.
Johnson also signed with Disney to voice the demi-god Maui for the studios next animated musical “Moana.”

In the film, a young woman uses her navigational talents to set sail for a fabled island and is joined by her hero, Maui.

On Facebook, Johnson confirmed he will be singing in the film “Manly and off key of course” he said.

“Moana” is set for a Nov. 26, 2016 release.

Next up on the big screen for Johnson is the 3-D disaster flick “San Andreas” which is coming out May 29 and in which Johnson plays a helicopter pilot who makes a dangerous journey across the state in order to rescue his estranged daughter in the aftermath of a massive earthquake in California.

Johnson, who attended Freedom High School in 11th and 12th grades, was the box office champion at the movies in 2013, according to Forbes magazine, which said his movies generated $1.3 billion in ticket sales.

Credit: mcall.com

Furious 7 Continues To Dominate At The Box Office!!

Furious 7 is unstoppable!! For the third weekend in a row, the action film took the top spot at the box office, taking in $29M!! Overall, the latest installment in the Fast & Furious franchise has grossed $1.153B, including what it’s made overseas. According to Deadline.con:

“Universal is smiling today as, by all expectations this morning, its franchise film Furious 7 should end the weekend with right around $29M for a cume a of $294.4M. This is the first picture to make $1B picture in its first run in the studio’s 103-year history and passed that milestone on Friday in only 17 days, the fastest ever.”

Welp, that pretty much guarantees there will be a Furious 8, and probably 9 and 10!! Furious 7 stars the late Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Tyrese Gibson, Jason Statham, and others.

Credit: live.drjays.com

Dwayne Johnson to Lead ‘The Janson Directive’

Because Dwayne Johnson doesn’t have enough action/adventure franchises already, he could find himself with yet another one on his hands. The actor has confirmed he’ll star inThe Janson Directive, based on the book by Bourne author Robert Ludlum. Akiva Goldsman is writing the script.

Hit the jump for more on the Dwayne Johnson Janson Directive casting.

Reports that Johnson could lead The Janson Directive began circulating in July. Then this week, Johnson himself announced the casting on Twitter.

Naturally, Universal Pictures is hoping this leads to a full-fledged franchise with Johnson at the center. It’ll be one of many. He currently has major roles in the Fast & Furious, G.I. Joe, and Journey to the Center of the Earth series.

On top of that, he has several more potentially brewing. He recently booked a lead role in Warner Bros. / DC’s Shazam adaptation, and his upcoming San Andreas has beendescribed as a possible franchise-starter as well.

This summer’s Hercules was also supposed to lead to a new film series, though as of now there’s no word on a sequel. Basically, everyone everywhere wants Dwayne Johnson to star in everything, at least as long as it involves toting a gun or flexing his biceps.

The Janson Directive will feature Johnson as Paul Janson, a former Navy SEAL and legendary spy who leaves the U.S. government to start his own agency. However, he finds himself being hunted down by his own former bosses. To save himself, he must get to the bottom of a massive conspiracy.

That description sounds more than a little Bourne-esque, and it’s worth noting that theBourne movies are set up at Universal too. The studio hasn’t mentioned the possibility of a crossover, but given the current craze for “Marvel-style” cinematic universe it wouldn’t be so surprising if they tried to unite the threads eventually.

Goldsman is coming off of his directorial debut Winter’s Tale, which he also scripted based on the book by Mark Helprin. In 2002, Goldsman won an Oscar for scripting Ron Howard’sA Beautiful Mind. The Janson Directive does not yet have a director or release date.

slashfilm.com

Fast and Furious 7 new Release Date

 

Universal Pictures has moved the released date up a week for Fast Furious 7. The movie was supposed to be released on April 10th, but will now hit theaters on April 3rd, 2015. James Wan is directing the next highly anticipated installment of the awesome fanchise, and is stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewsetr, Jason Statham, Djimon Hounsou, Kurt Russell and more. I’m surprised they’ve managed to keep the plot off this film under wraps for so long. We still have no real idea what it will entail, but I know it’s going to be a lot of fun!

 

geektyrant.com

Paul Walker’s Brothers Helping Finish Fast & Furious 7

Photo: Universal Pictures

Back in March a rumor circulated that the production of Fast & Furious 7would use body doubles and facial replacement to fill in gaps in the action due to the unfortunate death of star Paul Walker. This wasn’t really all that newsworthy given facial replacement is used a lot in Hollywood, but today Universal has officially confirmed the news while adding information that it’s Walker’s brothers, Caleb and Cody Walker, that have joined the production to help out.

Here’s the official statement from the studio’s Facebook page:

“The FAST & FURIOUS saga is about family. The characters are connected by the bond of family, and it is how all of us who have worked together for more than thirteen years feel about each other. It certainly defines how we feel about our fans.

Our family experienced an unthinkable shock in November. We had to take time to grieve Paul, the brother we love and lost, and to figure out if we should move on with our film.

We came together and all felt the only choice was to continue. We believe our fans want that, and we believe Paul would want that too. Paul had already shot his dramatic scenes and most of his action for FAST & FURIOUS 7, and it’s among the strongest work of his career.

We have resumed shooting and now welcome Paul’s brothers, Caleb and Cody, into our FAST family. Caleb and Cody are helping us complete some remaining action for their brother and fill in small gaps left in production. Having them on set has made us all feel that Paul is with us too.

We are just under a year away from the release of FAST & FURIOUS 7, and this film is the most important we’ve ever done together. It will allow the character of Brian O’Conner to live on and let us celebrate Paul in his most defining role.

We wanted to take a moment to speak to our fans directly and thank you for the love and support you always show us as we resume our work.”

Cody Walker, a stuntman, was first mentioned as possibly getting involved back in December 2013 and for comparison’s sake you can see a picture of the three brothers here.

Fast & Furious 7 is set to hit theaters on April 10, 2015, directed byJames Wan and starring Walker, Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson,Tyrese Gibson, Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges, Sung Kang, Kurt Russell, Jason Statham, Djimon Hounsou, Ronda Rousey andLucas Black.

credit: geektyrant.com

The Rock Talks About Paul Walker’s Death

In an interview with Yahoo Movies at CinemaCon, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson opened up about the death of his Fast & Furious co-star Paul Walker. Here are highlights:

On making sure Walker’s character has a fitting finale: “It’s very important for everybody involved, of course. It’s not easy, and it’s a challenge when you have something like this — a beloved person. Paul, as you guys know, he was truly one of the good guys — a great dude, who didn’t take himself seriously, loved what he did, understood the business of the business. You got the real deal, genuine guy when you got him. So it’s important for everybody to creatively honor him in the best way that we possibly can.”

On his movie family dealing with the loss: “[You deal with it] as best you can. We’ve all dealt with that kind of loss before, where it jolts us and it jolts our hearts. I think it also has a way of informing us. Loss like that also has a way of making us love better, love stronger, appreciate our loved ones and our family that much more, when we wake up and when we go to bed. How families deal with loss, everyone has their own process.”

On feeling sad for Walker’s daughter: “We had talked about that a multitude of times — how cool it is to be a dad. There’s that really special bond between a dad and his little girl. She’ll always be his little girl. … So my biggest pain was for his family and for his daughter, mom, and dad.”

 

411mania.com

‘Fast and Furious 7’ Cast Update:

Fast Five cast (Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, Jordana Brewster, Ludacris & the Rock: Dwayne Johnson) pre-interview. (Photo : Creative Commons/ Jack Zalium)

While no one is quite sure just how Universal will complete Fast and Furious 7 without headliner Paul Walker, a new trailer for a movie he did finish, Brick Mansions, Walker’s final film, debuted yesterday. Kurt Russell, who recently condoned the use of supervised steroid use in MLB, joins the Fast cast to help fill the void in the script left by Walker’s demise. Paul’s full autopsy revealed that he was alive, if not completely conscious, immediately following the tragic accident that claimed his life late last year.

Read more: Fast Furious 7

Credit: classicalite.com

10 Of The Most Memorable Movie Appearances From WWE Superstars

1. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (Fast Five/Fast & Furious 6)

When James Wan brought back the original cast members for 2009’s Fast & Furious, it was clear that the filmmaker wanted to take the franchise in an exciting new direction which would appeal to more than just hardcore petrolheads.

Casting Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as U.S. DSS agent Luke Hobbs was a genius move which helped turn the series into the phenomenon it is today (the last two instalments have earned a total of over $1.4 billion at the worldwide box office).

By this point in his career, Johnson had started taking on much better projects than the rubbish action movies and kids flicks he very nearly became best known for, but being cast as Hobbs would instead deservedly cement the former WWE Superstar as an A-List star in Hollywood.

Credit: heyuguys.co.uk

Dwayne Johnson is named one of The Top Grossing Actors Of 2013

Iron Man 3 is the highest-grossing movie of 2013 so far with $1.2 billion. But that’s not enough to put its star, Robert Downey Jr., on top of our list of the top-grossing actors. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson beat him this year by working more.

Iron Man was Downey’s only movie of 2013, while Johnson had one huge film, Fast & Furious 6; one big film, G.I. Joe: Retaliation; and two smaller films. Together they added up to $1.3 billion at the global box office. 

With another Fast & Furious movie slated to hit theaters next summer, Johnson should have another banner year in 2014. He could do even better thanks to Hercules. The film, about the mythological hero’s life after he completes his famous 12 labors, has franchise potential written all over it. If it’s also a big hit, Johnson’s 2014 box office grosses should be huge.

Fast & Furious 6 helped place two other actors high on our list: Vin Diesel and the late Paul Walker. Diesel lands in fourth place with $887 million. Fast & Furious 6 earned $789 million at the box office worldwide. The third movie in his Riddick franchise hit theaters just a few months after. It only pulled in $98 million, but that was enough to put Diesel ahead of his co-star Walker on our list.

Wallker places sixth thanks to Fast & Furious 6, the biggest hit of his career. He had finished shooting much of Fast & Furious 7 before the tragic car accident that took his life. Word is Universal won’t reshoot the film and will work around the actor’s death.

Note that grosses are not the same thing as earnings. Downey outearned Johnson by $29 million with $75 million in estimated earnings between June 2012 and June 2013, the period we used for the latest edition of our Celebrity 100 list. The numbers we’re looking at here are how many dollars each star’s movies brought in at the box office worldwide this year.

Although Downey has a few movies coming out next year, they’re much smaller than his superhero films. He won’t see another huge payday until 2015 when Avengers: Age of Ultron hits theaters.

Ranking third on our Top-Grossing list is Steve Carell. Despicable Me 2 was a huge hit this year, bringing in $919 million at the box office. Overall, the franchise has earned $1.4 billion at the box office worldwide and a third movie, Minions, is on the way. Carell also appeared this year in the small indie The Way Way Back and The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. The latter failed to earn back its production budget at the box office but we’re only looking at ticket sales here — the film put another $22.5 million in Carell’s column for 2013.

Rounding out our top five is Sandra Bullock, one of only two women on our list (the other is Jennifer Lawrence in 10th place). Bullock had two big hits this year in two very different genres: Gravity was a tense thriller that will likely earn her another Oscar nomination, while The Heat was a cop comedy that kicked butt at the box office, bringing in $230 million globally.

forbes.com

DWAYNE JOHNSON HBO SERIES ‘BALLERS’ ADDS ‘HOT TUB TIME MACHINE’ STAR ROB CORDDRY

Universal / Alberto E. Rodriguez, Getty Images

Dwayne Johnson‘s movie stock remains consistently on the rise, but should the ‘Fast & Furious‘ actor decide to make forthcoming HBO pilot ‘Ballers’ a permanent home, he’ll at least be in good company. ‘Hot Tub Time Manchine 2‘ star Rob Corddry has officially signed on to the new Mark Wahlberg-produced sports dramedy, but will it be a permanent position?

While previously only portions of the premise had been revealed, Deadline today breaks that the half-hour dramedy pilot will follow the lives of several Miami-based active and retired athletes. Upcoming ‘Community‘premiere guest Corddry will play former all-pro running back Spencer’s (Johnson) boss, a financial advisor who “tries really hard to fit in and who is confident but clueless at interpreting social cues.” The gig will work around Corddry’s involvement with Adult Swim’s ‘Childrens Hospital,’ as well.

Not only will ‘Entourage’ producers Mark Wahlberg and Stephen Levinson helm the new series, with Levinson on writing duties, but acclaimed director Peter Berg will direct the pilot episode, shooting in the near future. Evan Reilly will act as showrunner, while Johnson himself, Berg and Johnson’s manager Dany Garcia will also executive produce.

We’re certainly going to follow ‘Ballers’ with piqued curiosity, but what say you? Do Dwayne Johnson and Rob Corddry sound like a promising match for HBO dramedy?

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