With Hobbs & Shaw currently the No. 1 movie in the nation following a $60 million opening weekend haul, Fast & Furious franchise star Tyrese Gibson has shared his assessment of the film's box office performance.
In an Instagram post that was deleted but predictably captured and distributed by timely sleuths, Tyrese—who's previously expressed his frustrations about the franchise spin-off—shared a screenshot of a misleading Lowyat article titled "Hobbs & Shaw Has Lowest Fast & Furious Box Office Opening Since Tokyo Drift."
In the post's caption, Tyrese broke down his current feelings on the matter. "Breaking up the family clearly doesn't have the value that one would assume it does," he said, adding in some personal convictions about how the franchise should be handled and signing off with a nod to his Fast & Furious character Roman.
In another post that remains live at the time of this writing, Tyrese seemingly referenced the post-and-delete message, telling fans he was now opting to "stay quiet and act like nothing ever happened."
To be clear, the Rock and Jason Statham's Hobbs & Shaw marks the first spin-off in the Fast & Furious cinematic universe and notably opened on par with the most recent box office projections. As it stands now, the David Leitch-directed movie is at an estimated $180 million in global box office dollars. Its alleged $200 million production budget, however, has received renewed attention.
Following F. Gary Gray's 2017 hit The Fate of the Furious, the franchise will resume proceedings with next May's ninth entry in the main franchise. Director Justin Lin, a familiar name to those who've followed the series since its inception, will direct both the ninth and tenth entries. Lin's back-to-back sequels will be released just one year apart, with the untitled one due in April 2021.
