Vin Diesel is re-teaming with his Fate Of The Furious director F. Gary Gray for an action-comedy titled Muscle.
The film has been in development for a few years at this point, yet somehow plot details have managed to remain under wraps. We do know that the latest draft of the script hails from The Falcon And The Winter Soldier creator Malcolm Spellman and Into The Storm scribe John Swetnam. The original script was penned by Scott Taylor and Wesley Jermaine Johnson.
The film will head into production later this year at STXfilms, with Diesel producing under his One Race Films banner alongside Samantha Vincent.
“There are few directors who can match Gary’s skill with character, comedy, and big action, which is why he is one of the most accomplished and in-demand directors working today”, said STXfilms chairman Adam Fogelson.
“Over the years, Vin and I have worked together on a number of hit movies and it’s a thrill to reteam Vin and Gary after their billion-dollar success on The Fate Of The Furious. This will become one of the most eagerly anticipated films on our slate”.
It makes sense that any studio would want to be the ones behind Gray and Diesel’s latest collaboration, since The Fate Of The Furious grossed over $1.2 billion worldwide, as Fogelson mentioned. Obviously much of that is thanks to the Fast & Furious brand, but Diesel is a movie star, and Gray is the filmmaker behind other hits such as Straight Outta Compton and The Italian Job remake.
Obviously it’s pretty unlikely that Muscle will match that kind of box office return, but it will be interesting to see how this performs.
If you remove last year’s Bloodshot, which was released just as the pandemic was beginning, this will be Diesel’s first non-franchise film he’s starred in since 2015’s The Last Witch Hunter, and that wasn’t able to break even at the box office. It will be fascinating to see if Diesel’s fans follow him to something without built-in IP like Muscle.
Diesel will next be seen in F9, and just last week signed on to star in a Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots movie from the writer of Rampage. Gray is attached to helm a M.A.S.K. movie for Paramount and Hasbro, and is also developing a film based on the Saints Row video game franchise.
#Peace.Love.Muscle
