Fast and the Furious Franchise Will Shift to Fifth...

The fourth installment to the double-clutching Fast and the Furious franchise isn't even out yet and folks are already talking about taking the story another step further with a fifth movie. I, like many, felt the street racing film line blew a head gasket with third film, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, back in 2006. That film shed any association to the original storyline and brought in roughly half of what each of the first two grossed. Now that the fourth reunites most of the original crew and has decent buzz for its April 3rd release, can we believe lead Paul Walker when he says a fifth film is "beyond rumors at this point"?

At a recent press junket for the fourth film, Fast & Furious, Walker told attendees (including our friends at HitFix) that "[he's] spoken to executives at Universal and they are pretty serious about it. They are developing it. They want it to take place in Europe. I don't think the best one yet has been made yet. If we were to make a fifth one that would be the best one in my mind. Otherwise, let's not do it."

First, the idea that they haven't made "the best one yet" is a pretty self-serving and odd statement to make before the fourth film bows. Second, I find it doubtful that the best film in the series would take place in Europe. Not to offend our friends across the pond, but I'd bet that fans wouldn't get as excited for a tricked out Renault as they would a Nissan or American muscle. When the story went to Tokyo in 2006 that was a totally acceptable, if not preferred, change of locale. After all, much of the shiny autos we drool over in these films are born in that part of the world anyway, and it is a veritable fanboy paradise.

While the fourth film's eventual performance at the box office is certainly going to inform any continuation of the story, co-star Vin Diesel is apparently also staying on top of the prospect with Universal. "I try to think out the story even before we go to shoot the film that's at hand. So, yes I had been thinking about it." Also, if the fifth does happen, executives would reportedly try to bring back 2 Fast 2 Furious star Tyrese Gibson - a move I'm totally on board with. I'm a 110% glutton for this franchise, so I'd love to see it go the distance again. I do have my reservations about a Euro-slant, but street racing is street racing, right?