BLOODSHOT (Vin Diesel) in Columbia Pictures’ BLOODSHOT.
The coronavirus continues to affect most regions of the planet, including the movie business. Last week MGM and Universal pushed back the release of the new James Bond movie No Time To Die to November but one other big franchise will not be moved. That franchise is the juggernaut ‘Fast 9’ and its star Vin Diesel has opened up to USA Today on his thoughts of why the Fast and Furious 9 release date should not be moved. He also talks about why he’s still up for promoting Bloodshot, which will still be released at the end of the week.
Speaking to the newspaper, Diesel said: “I love to show up for the audience and for the fans because God knows how much they’ve showed up for me. I’m crazy. I’m begging Sony [to promote Bloodshot] to let me go to China, even now. And you should see everyone’s faces like, ‘You’re going alone, buddy!’.”
Bloodshot is based on the bestselling comic book of the same name and Diesel stars as Ray Garrison, a soldier recently killed in action and brought back to life as the superhero Bloodshot by the RST corporation. With an army of nanotechnology in his veins, he’s an unstoppable force – stronger than ever and able to heal instantly. But in controlling his body, the company has sway over his mind and memories, too. Now, Ray doesn’t know what’s real and what’s not – but he’s on a mission to find out.
Talking to the outlet, Diesel had the following to say about moving the two releases: “Let me put it to you this way: Bloodshot at the end of the day is a soldier and a soldier doesn’t decide or pick when or where he’s deployed. We’re going to go in… [I] won’t fault anyone in the world for saying, ‘You guys are stupid for releasing this movie right now.’ [But] we need movies now more than ever. We’re already in a very interesting time where cinema and the cinematic experience is so threatened. So, yes, put it on record we’re going to show up.”
The ‘Fast’ movies, in particular, have a huge audience in China. The last movie in the series took a massive $392 million in the territory, a huge chunk of its total $1.2 billion worldwide haul.
Bloodshot will be first out of the blocks, releasing pretty much everywhere this Friday, 13th March. The Fast and Furious 9 release date is still set for 22nd May 2020. More news as it comes in.
