CinemaCon: 'Furious 8' to be Released in 2017

Learn why the announcement comes as no surprise.

Story by Matt Cummings

Furious 7 has been an unqualified hit, no matter how you slice it. The death of Actor Paul Walker in 2013 nearly ended the franchise as Universal struggled to re-shoot portions of the film with Director James Wan. When it finally released on April 3rd, the high-flying car caper drew huge crowds but not overly positive critical reviews. In fact, fans themselves could make a claim that it's the weakest since the original trilogy.

Even if such suggestions spark fierce debate among moviegoers, the film has surpassed the $1.1 billion mark, and has made over $300 million domestically. That's a win no matter how you slice. Part of its success was the film's poignant ending, showing Walker's character Brian O'Conner driving off into the sunset as his partner Dom (Vin Diesel) looked on. And even with that teary-eyed ending, its amazing performance dictated that a sequel be considered.

At today's CinemaCon in Las Vegas, Universal did much more than that.

Holding back tears, Diesel announced on Thursday that Furious 8 will hit theaters on April 14, 2017, confirming the old addage that the show must go on. In financial terms, it was nearly a given when in its first weekend the movie topped $130m domestically on its way to a staggering $300m total. That's a number that no theater owner can deny, especially when one can still see dozens of moviegoers pouring out of a showing on a Tuesday night (our personal experience at a recent screening for another film).

With such an aggressive release date, Universal will need to make several important decisions quickly:

Will there be a replacement for Paul Walker's character?

Will Director James Wan return?

Can the franchise survive without Paul Walker's character?

What say you, fellow Sandwich-ers? What kind of a film do you want to see, and what are your opinions of our three questions above? Get involved in the conversation!

Discuss this review with fellow SJF fans on Facebook. On Twitter, follow us at @SandwichJohnFilms, and follow author Matt Cummings at @mfc90125.