Building upon a successful five year relationship, Netflix and DreamWorks Animation Television announced today a brand new
Fast & Furious animated series. It is the first series in the ongoing multi-year deal for original animated kids and family programming, although DreamWorks will continue creating series based on original and acquired IP as well.
Based on Universal's global action/racing franchise, the
Fast & Furious animated series centers on Tony Toretto, a teenager following in the footsteps of his cousin Dom (Vin Diesel in the live-action films). Tony and his friends are recruited by a government agency to infiltrate an elite racing league serving as a front for a nefarious crime organization bent on world domination.
Tim Hedrick (
DreamWorks Voltron Legendary Defender) and Bret Haaland (
All Hail King Julien) will serve as executive producers and showrunners. Vin Diesel, Neal Moritz and Chris Morgan, who also serve as producers on the live-action
Fast & Furious franchise, will serve as executive producers on the animated series as well.
“We are thrilled to take our fantastic partnership with DreamWorks Animation to the next level with new opportunities from the vast library of Universal Pictures,” said Melissa Cobb, Vice President of Kids and Family for Netflix. “The Fast & Furious franchise is a global phenomenon beloved by audiences of all ages, and we can’t wait to get started on the new animated series that will capture the action, heart, humor and global appeal of the feature films.”
“We are excited to extend and expand our successful relationship with Netflix by not only delivering more high-quality DreamWorks programming, but connecting fans of Universal films with fascinating new stories,” added Margie Cohn, President of DreamWorks Animation Television. “Our new home at Universal marks an exciting new chapter for storytelling at our studio, and Fast & Furious is only the beginning.”
With seven installments, the live-action Fast & Furious has grown into a global franchise with more than $5 billion earned at the worldwide box office. Universal Pictures’ record-smashing franchise has become the studio’s most-profitable and longest-running one. Furious 7 was one of the fastest movies to reach $1 billion worldwide in box office history and is currently the sixth-biggest global title of all time, while the most-recent installment The Fate of the Furious debuted in theaters as the biggest global opening of all time.
Looking ahead, the next film in the Fast & Furious franchise is slated to hit theaters in July 2019, while Chapters 9 and 10 of the franchise are on track for April 2020 and April 2021 releases.