Vin Diesel made a recent tease about the next – and once again, reportedly final – chapter in the Fast & Furious franchise, but it may have been a bit premature. According to a new report, not only have the brakes been applied, but the vehicle has seemingly been impounded with a demand of money for its release – or a reduction in the amount of money the movie will cost to be more precise.
Fast and Furious 11 has been a sore subject since Fast X failed to make itself profitable after the movie’s budget soared to phenomenal heights that left Universal wincing and the franchise’s continuation in doubt. Throw in Diesel’s barbed comments about wanting to bring the franchise back to family and street racing following some of the ridiculously over-the-top stories that Dom and co have been subjected to in their last few movies, and there has already been a lot of unrest around the production. Now it seems there has been a demand from Universal that the cost of Fast 11 has to be brought down by $140 million compared to that of its predecessor.
As per The Wall Street Journal, Universal has given the makers of Fast 11 an ultimatum that they either stick to a budget of $200 million or the movie won’t be greenlit. Originally, when Fast X was two movies, it was estimated that Part 2 would cost around $250, which means that even if this estimate is being used, then the team behind the film still need to come up with $50 million of additional cuts.
Additionally, the report suggests that, unlike Diesel’s comments, there is currently no script for the movie and many of the actors have not been approached to appear in Fast 11 yet. Based on the costing crisis surrounding the movie, it seems likely that either several big names will be cut from the cast-list, or several filming locations will have to be dropped to make up the deficit. In part, this does all play back into Diesel’s hands, as his wish for a simpler movie could end up being forced necessity rather than wish fulfillment.