Jason Statham & The Rock’s Fast & Furious Returns Make the Status of Hobbs & Shaw 2 Even Stranger
The impending return of Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham to the Fast & Furious franchise only makes the absence of Hobbs & Shaw 2 seem more glaring. Johnson, who is also known by his wrestling moniker “The Rock,” joined the franchise in 2011’s Fast Five. Statham was hot on his heels, making a cameo in that movie’s immediate sequel before joining the main cast as Deckard Shaw in 2015’s Furious 7. As is the case with many stars who are given prominent roles in the car-based action franchise, both actors have reprised their roles in multiple sequels.
However, Statham and Johnson’s characters were siloed into the spinoff Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw in 2019, potentially due in part to a well-publicized on-set feud between Johnson and his co-star Vin Diesel, who has been part of the franchise since the original 2001 movie. Development on a possible Hobbs & Shaw 2 was announced within months of the movie’s release, but it eventually stalled. The project has since morphed into a new in-development spinoff titled Hobbs & Reyes that will tie in with 2023’s Fast X and co-star Johnson with Jason Momoa, in his sophomore Fast outing.
Jason Statham & The Rock Returned To Fast & Furious In Fast X
Johnson Sat Out F9 While Statham Had A Reduced Role
For some time before Jason Statham and The Rock’s Fast X return, it seemed that the Hobbs & Shaw spinoff would result in both stars exiting the flagship franchise. At the very least, it seemed possible that their appearances would be relegated to more minor cameos maintaining the franchise’s continuity. In fact, this is what happened with Statham with F9, the first Fast movie following the release of the spinoff. While he made a special appearance at the end of the movie, he was uncredited and the scene was largely unrelated to the main thrust of the movie’s plot.
Featuring them both was a return to form for the franchise.
However, both stars made appearances in 2023’s Fast X in varying capacities. While Statham returned for a more substantial role in the main plot of the movie, Johnson’s Hobbs made an appearance more akin to Shaw’s cameo in the previous installment. His cameo came during a mid-credits sequence where he was contacted by newcomer villain Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa), implying that Hobbs would be making an upcoming appearance in the franchise. While neither appearance was as robust as previous installments featuring the stars in the main cast, the movie featuring them both was a return to form for the franchise.
Statham & Johnson “Reunited” In Fast X Before Hobbs & Shaw 2
They Hadn’t Been In A Fast & Furious Movie Together In Four Years
Despite the Hobbs & Shaw 2 delay, the duo’s appearances in Fast X technically count as a reunion for the spinoff stars. They do not share the screen together in the new installment, which means it was unlikely that they were ever on set at the same time during the production of the movie. However, both of them appearing as part of the ensemble cast of the movie marks the first time that they have collaborated on a movie in the Fast Saga in half a decade, since co-starring in the 2019 spinoff.
Hobbs & Shaw 2 Not Happening Still Doesn’t Make Sense
The Original Spinoff Was A Financial Success
Although Johnson and Statham are both being folded back into the primary branch of the franchise, it still doesn’t make sense why Hobbs & Shaw 2 has failed to come to fruition. For one thing, the movie was well-received critically. At the time of writing, it is tied with The Fate of the Furious for fourth place in the franchise on Rotten Tomatoes, as both movies have Fresh 67% scores. All six of the movies below the pair of titles on the review aggregator service’s chart have Rotten scores and matching green splats.
It makes a certain amount of sense that producers may have been skittish to commit to a second installment of the spinoff subfranchise at the time, considering the fact that it was the first Fast movie not to make more than $1 billion in six years. However, it was a box office hit, grossing $760.7 million against a budget of $200 million and becoming the 11th highest-grossing movie of the year, which included multiple billion-dollar titles including Joker, Frozen II, and Avengers: Endgame. Below, see how the spinoff compares both commercially and critically with the other Fast & Furious movies:
| Title | RT Score | Budget | Box Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Fast and the Furious (2001) | 54% | $38 million | $207.3 million |
| 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) | 37% | $76 million | $236.4 million |
| The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) | 37% | $85 million | $159 million |
| Fast & Furious (2009) | 28% | $85 million | $360.4 million |
| Fast Five (2011) | 78% | $125 million | $626.1 million |
| Fast & Furious 6 (2013) | 71% | ~$200 million | $788.7 million |
| Furious 7 (2015) | 81% | $190 million | $1.51 billion |
| The Fate of the Furious (2017) | 67% | ~$260 million | $1.24 billion |
| Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019) | 67% | $200 million | $760.7 million |
| F9 (2021) | 59% | ~$210 million | $726.2 million |
| Fast X (2023) | 56% | $378.8 million | $714 million |
However, Fast X finds the franchise in an entirely different place from the time when the spinoff was released. It wasn’t until after the premiere of Hobbs & Shaw that the movies began to take a considerable commercial downturn. The diminishing returns of the flagship series, as well as the ballooning budget of Fast X, which may have prevented it from hitting its break-even point, make the spinoff’s box office results look much stronger in retrospect. While it represented a major downturn from the preceding billion-dollar movies, it is now the highest-grossing installment in the franchise in five years.
Hobbs & Shaw Are Set To Be In Fast & Furious 11
The Eleventh Fast & Furious Movie Is Due In 2026
The fact that both Johnson and Statham appeared in the Fast X cast implied that the characters would be returning for future installments in the franchise. It was later confirmed that the plan is for both stars to reprise their iconic roles in Fast 11. However, the 2026 sequel has been redeveloped several times and various contradicting announcements have been made about the project since the underperformance of the previous installment, making it unclear which announcements are accurate, including the fact that it is said to be the end of the franchise.
Whether or not Johnson appears in the upcoming movie from the flagship franchise or has his role limited to the Hobbs & Reyes movie that is seemingly being teased by the mid-credits sequence remains to be seen. Ultimately, in spite of the multitude of spinoffs that are in various stages of development, including a standalone movie set in the same universe and a female-led spinoff, it seems that Hobbs & Shaw 2 has well and truly fallen by the wayside.
