Fast and Furious 9 delayed to 2020

5 October 2017

'Fast and Furious 9' has been delayed by a year.

Vin Diesel

The next movie in the popular franchise was initially due to be released in April 2019 but now, executives at Universal have announced it will instead hit screens on April 10, 2020.

The ninth instalment has yet to find itself a director although it is thought most of the main cast members including Vin Diesel will return. The tenth instalment was slated for release on April 2, 2021 but it is not known if this has been pushed back now too.

The 'Fast and Furious' franchise is built around illegal street racing and heists and has starred the likes of Dwayne Johnson, Michelle Rodriguez and the late Paul Walker over the years.

Earlier this year, when the 'Fate of the Furious' was released in April 2017, the eighth instalment, it raked in an impressive $1.163 billion at the box office and was named the fourth fastest-grossing film worldwide in terms of days.

Dwayne had previously been reported to be reprising his role in the ninth instalment as Luke Hobbs. There were rumours he could have turned his back on the franchise after his character rejected the offer to have his position as Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) back and decided to be more committed to his parenting duties in the eighth film.

The 45-year-old actor also hit out at some of his male co-stars - where he was thought to be referring to Vin Diesel - in a post when they wrapped filming on the eighth movie.

His post at the time read: "This is my final week of shooting #FastAndFurious8. There's no other franchise that gets my blood boiling more than this one. An incredible hard working crew. UNIVERSAL has been great partners as well. My female co-stars are always amazing and I love 'em.

"My male co-stars however are a different story. Some conduct themselves as stand up men and true professionals, while others don't. The ones that don't are too chicken s**t to do anything about it anyway. Candy asses. When you watch this movie next April and it seems like I'm not acting in some of these scenes and my blood is legit boiling - you're right. (sic)."

However, the actors are said to have put their feud to rest after having a number of private conversations with one another.