Vin Diesel Announces 'Fast and Furious 8' Is Set for 2017

"Fast and Furious 8" gets an official release date. Speaking during the theater owners gathering at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, the Dominic Toretto depicter revealed that the sequel to the recently-released "Furious 7" would hit North America on April 14, 2017. 

It will be the first film in the franchise without Paul Walker. "I swear to you and I swear tomy brother upstairs we're going to make the best movie you've ever seen," Vin Diesel said while pointing out that he was with his late co-star the last time he was at the event.

The last film was completed with the help of Walker's brothers as body doubles following his passing in an unrelated car crash. It was a box office giant for Universal, collecting a global haul of $1.2 billion to become the biggest installment in the franchise and the seventh highest-grossing movie of all time. It joins the elite billion club after just 17 days of release, faster than any other movies and becomes the first Universal film to reach the milestone in its initial theatrical release.

Details of the upcoming entry are still scarce, but Diesel is expected to reprise his role and so is Kurt Russell. James Wan is reportedly eyed to direct again, and Eva Mendes from "2 Fast 2 Furious" is rumored to return as agent Monica Fuentes. On top that, Helen Mirrenhas expressed her interest to play villain in this eighth movie.