Universal
"The Fate of the Furious."
The studio announced Wednesday, according to The Hollywood Reporter, that it's delaying the ninth movie by one year. The untitled movie, which currently has no director attached, was slated to open April 19, 2019. It will now open April 10, 2020.
There are no details yet on why the movie was pushed back, but the speculation will certainly begin.
Vin Diesel, who is also a producer on the movies, will return. But after his very public spat with his co-star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson leading up to the release of the most recent movie, "The Fate of the Furious," it's unknown if Johnson will be returning.
Is the studio trying to get more time to mend fences? Or is it taking time to hire another major star to take Johnson's place?
Another theory is that the planned spinoff movie from the franchise, which is to star Johnson and Jason Statham, could now take that 2019 release slot. Perhaps the studio is going with the game plan of "Star Wars" of having spinoff movies put between the years of the main story franchise releases.
Business Insider contacted Universal for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
"The Fate of the Furious" proved global audiences still loves the franchise. The movie earned over $1.2 billion worldwide when it was released over the summer. Over $1 billion of that came from overseas.