Back 2 Fast 2 Future
Universal owns Back to the Future and Fast and Furious. Why hasn’t there been a DeLorean cameo in a Fast and Furious movie?
In a town that is known for synergy, Universal rarely ties their movie franchises together. Back to the Future just celebrated 30 years in 2015 and what was considered the future in the film, namely October 21, 2015, is now the past. But Back to the Future is one of those few franchises that never rebooted. The trilogy is still arguably the only epic trilogy franchise left untouched. 4 Indiana Jones movies, 12 Star Wars films, 5 Alien movies, all of these were perfect trilogies when I was a kid and now they aren’t, except the wonderful Back to the Future... and I guess Predator is a trilogy now too, but BACK TO THE FUTURE.
Universal Studios Theme Parks reskinned their Back to the Future ride a couple years ago and turned it to a Simpsons Ride. And you can even tell when you’re on the ride that the movements remain the same, they just changed the video you’re watching to match up with the original car movements, so instead of being eaten by a T-Rex, you get sucked like a baby’s pacifier by a radiated giant sized Maggie. Arguably Universal got rid of the Back to the Future ride because 2015, which is also the future in the ride, although it’s October 25, 2015 for some reason, is no longer the future. But instead of replacing it with one of their own franchises, they instead remodel everything with Fox’s longest lived animated franchise.
And the Fast and Furious franchise isn't a stranger to Universal synergy. In Fast and Furious 3:
Tokyo Drift Bow Wow's character Twinkie drives a green Incredible Hulk VW Touran. Justin Lin said the design of the fist bumps was inspired by the 70s Hulk TV show. But Universal actually owns the movie rights to the Incredible Hulk, both Ang Lee's Hulk and the MCU Incredible Hulk movie were distributed by Universal and the 70s TV show is also owned by NBCUniversal. So Universal used synergy to put the Hulk into the Fast and the Furious but they don't put the most iconic movie car of all time which they own into their car movie.
Universal’s largest franchise is certainly Fast and Furious and their largest former franchise that has kept all of its luster (sorry Jaws). So why not use synergy and put a DeLorean in the next Fast and Furious movie, Fast 8. And I don’t mean to have a literal time machine DeLorean in the movie where Doc Brown comes out and tells Vin Diesel that he has to go back in time to prevent Paul Walker falling in love with his family too much and wanting to drive down a separate fork in the road. They should just put the DeLorean in the background, as an Easter Egg.
Universal, you put it in Million Ways to Die in the West. After all, Seth MacFarlane exclusively makes Universal movies and put the time machine DeLorean and Doc Brown into his film A Million Ways to Die in the West, which I’d argue even places the film in the Back to the Future universe. With studios obsessed with connected universes finally, it’s a shame that Universal doesn’t respect their rich Hollywood history.
Here's the list of Universal's upcoming films:
Universal:
Hail, Caesar! - February 5, 2016
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 - March 25, 2016
The Boss - April 8, 2016
The Huntsman Winter's War - April 22, 2016
Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising - May 20, 2016
Top Secret Untitled Lonely Island Movie - June 3, 2016
Warcraft - June 10, 2016
The Purge 3 - July 1, 2016
The Bourne Chapter 5 - July 29, 2016
Spectral - August 12, 2016
Bridget Jones's Baby - September 16, 2016
Kevin Hart: What Now? - October 14, 2016
Ouija 2 - October 21, 2016
A Meyers Christmas - November 11, 2016
The Great Wall - November 23, 2016
Let It Snow - December 9, 2016
The Veil - July 8, 1905
The Best Man Wedding - July 8, 1905
Mena - January 6, 2017
Split - January 20, 2017
Fifty Shades Darker - February 10, 2017
Fast 8 - April 14, 2017
Pitch Perfect 3 - August 4, 2017
The Snowman - October 13, 2017
Fifty Shades Freed - February 9, 2018
Jurassic Park: Episode V - Jurassic Wars? - June 22, 2018
Universal Movie Monster Universe:
The Mummy Reboot - March 24, 2017
The Wolf Man - March 30, 2018
Illumination Animation:
The Secret Life of Pets - July 8, 2016
Sing - December 21, 2016
Despicable Me 3 - June 30, 2017
Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas - November 17, 2017
Illumination Entertainment Franchise Film 10 - July 13, 2018
Illumination Entertainment Franchise Film 11 - July 3, 2019
Illumination Entertainment Franchise Film 12 - July 10, 2020
