Hobbs & Shaw (2019)
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw is a 2019 American action comedy film directed by David Leitch and written by Chris Morgan and Drew Pearce, from a story by Morgan. It is the ninth installment of the Fast & Furious franchise and a spin-off set after the events of The Fate of the Furious (2017) and before the events of F9 (2021). The film sees Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham reprise their roles from the main series as Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw, respectively, and also stars Idris Elba, Vanessa Kirby, Eiza González, Cliff Curtis, and Helen Mirren. The plot follows the unlikely pairing of the titular characters as they team up with Shaw’s sister (Kirby) to battle a cybernetically enhanced terrorist (Elba) threatening the world with a deadly virus.
Series star and producer Vin Diesel first said in 2015 that possible spin-offs were in early development, and Hobbs & Shaw was officially announced in October 2017. Leitch signed on to direct in April 2018, and Kirby and Elba both joined the cast that July. Filming began in September and lasted through January 2019, mostly taking place in London and Glasgow.
Hobbs & Shaw premiered at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on July 13, 2019, was theatrically released in the United States on August 2, 2019, by Universal Pictures. The film grossed over $760 million worldwide, and critics on Rotten Tomatoes said it “gets decent mileage out of its well-matched stars and over-the-top action sequences”. A sequel is in development.
Plot.
In London, MI6 Agent Hattie Shaw and her team attempt to retrieve a programmable supervirus dubbed “Snowflake” from techno-terrorist organization Eteon. Brixton Lore, an ex-MI6 Agent turned Eteon operative with cybernetic implants that allow him to perform superhuman feats, arrives and kills all the agents except Hattie, who injects the only dose of Snowflake into herself before escaping. Brixton frames Hattie for killing her team and stealing Snowflake, forcing her to go on the run. Two years after the confrontation against cyberterrorist Cipher,[N 1] ex-Diplomatic Security Service Agent Luke Hobbs and ex-MI6 Agent Deckard Shaw are both informed of the missing virus and are reluctantly recruited to work together to track it down. After a brief meeting at a CIA black site at Leadenhall Building, Deckard goes to Hattie’s apartment for information, only to get attacked by Eteon operatives, while Hobbs manages to find Hattie; after a brief scuffle, he brings her to the CIA office, as Deckard then arrives and informs Hobbs that Hattie is actually his sister.
The office is attacked, and Hattie is taken by Brixton, whom Deckard recognizes as an old colleague-turned-enemy he’d previously shot and supposedly killed. Hobbs and Deckard pursue and rescue Hattie, and during an ensuing car chase in a McLaren 720S, manage to escape from Brixton, who crashes into a double-decker bus. However, Brixton frames all three as traitors via Eteon’s control of global news media.
The three locate Professor Andreiko, who explains that he created Snowflake to efficiently deliver vaccines, and to prevent Eteon from using the supervirus to eradicate humanity, Hattie, while the virus is still dormant, must either be cremated or have the virus removed with a specialized extraction device, which is located in Eteon’s special facility in Chernobyl, Ukraine. Although Hobbs was briefly detained due to Deckard making his fake alias “Mike Oxmaul,” the three manage to travel to Moscow. After rendezvousing with Deckard’s former flame Margarita to rearm in Moscow, the three infiltrate the facility.
Development.
In November 2015, Vin Diesel announced in an interview with Variety that potential spin-offs for the Fast & Furious series were in the early stages of development. In October 2017, Universal Pictures announced a spin-off film centered around characters Luke Hobbs and Deckard Shaw, and set a release date of July 26, 2019, with Chris Morgan returning to write the script. Variety reported that Shane Black was being considered to direct the film. In February 2018, Deadpool 2 director David Leitch entered talks to direct the film. In April 2018, Leitch was confirmed as the director for the film and added David Scheunemann as a production designer.RELATED:
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Casting.
In July 2018, Vanessa Kirby was cast in the film to play an MI6 agent and Shaw’s sister, along with Idris Elba as the main villain in the film. In October 2018, Eddie Marsan joined the cast of the film, and in November 2018, Eiza González was added as well. In January 2019, Johnson revealed that his cousin and professional wrestler Roman Reigns would appear in the film as Hobbs’s brother. Additionally, he announced that Cliff Curtis, Josh Mauga, and John Tui would portray other brothers of Hobbs. Helen Mirren was also confirmed to be reprising her role from The Fate of the Furious.
Filming.
Principal photography began on September 10, 2018, in London, England. Dwayne Johnson joined the production two weeks later, on September 24, 2018, after he had wrapped filming Jungle Cruise. Most filming was done at Shepperton Studios and Leavesden Studios. In October, filming moved to Glasgow, Scotland, to recreate London. Filming also took place in late 2018 at Eggborough power station in North Yorkshire, and in Farnborough, Hampshire. The Hawaiian island of Kaua’i was used as a stand-in for Samoa for the film’s third act. Cinematographer Jonathan Sela shot the film with Arri Alexa SXT and Alexa Mini digital cameras and Hawk Class-X anamorphic lenses. Production officially wrapped on January 27, 2019. Scroggins Aviation Mockup & Effects was hired to supply a UH-60 Black Hawk (s/n 79-23354) in the film. Scroggins made modification to the UH-60 and worked with the art department to supply it with a digital cockpit panel.
Marketing, Home media.
The first poster was released on January 31, 2019. The first trailer was released on February 1, 2019, and a TV spot was aired during Super Bowl LIII, on February 3, 2019. A second trailer was released on April 18, 2019. The final trailer was released on June 28, 2019. Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw was released on Digital HD on October 15, 2019, and on DVD, Blu-ray, and Ultra HD Blu-ray on November 5, 2019, by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.
Box office.
Hobbs & Shaw grossed $174 million in the United States and Canada, and $586.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $760.6 million. Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $84 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues. In the United States and Canada, the film was projected to gross $60–65 million from 4,253 theaters in its opening weekend, while some insiders predicted it could exceed $70 million. The film made $23.7 million on its first day, including $5.8 million from Thursday night previews, the highest amount for both Johnson and Statham outside the main Fast & Furious series. It went on to debut to $60 million over the weekend, finishing first at the box office. Similar to the main Fast & Furious films, Hobbs & Shaw had a diverse audience,
with audience demographics being 40% Caucasian, 27% Hispanic, 20% African American and 13% Asian. The film dropped 58% in its second weekend to $25.3 million, remaining in first, before another Universal film Good Boys replaced it in the third week.
In other territories, the film was projected to open to around $125 million from 54 countries, for a worldwide debut of $195 million. The film made $24.9 million from its first two days of international release. In its Chinese opening weekend the film made $102 million, grossing below projections but nevertheless being the second highest-grossing weekend of 2019 behind Avengers: Endgame.