Universal revealed new footage from Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw at CinemaCon in Las Vegas. The idea for the spinoff was inspired by Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham’s scenes together in 2017’s The Fate of the Furious. While a post-credits stinger that set up the spinoff was scrapped, the project was officially announced shortly after the eighth Fast & Furious movie hit theaters. Atomic Blonde and Deadpool 2 director David Leitch later boarded the film, and it’s been smooth sailing for Hobbs & Shaw ever since.
The spinoff’s marketing kicked off with a Super Bowl trailer in February, just a couple weeks before production officially wrapped on the film. Things have gone quiet on the Hobbs & Shaw front since then, but are starting to heat back up, now that the pre-summer movie season is right around the corner. Case in point: Universal presented a whole lot of fresh material from the movie during its larger CinemaCon 2019 presentation.
Johnson and Statham were on-hand to present a brand-new Hobbs & Shaw trailer for the crowd in attendance. The pair started off with some playful banter, with Johnson joking that the spinoff was titled Hobbs, before Statham stopped him and claimed the film was originally called Shaw & Hobbs. After a bit more back and forth (Johnson retorted that he paid to change the title), the trailer got going.
The new trailer opened with a shot of cars driving to a power plant, like the original Hobbs & Shaw promo. The titular characters are shown arguing and joking back and forth, as they seemingly set up explosives to enter two different halls. From there, the trailer cuts to scenes of Statham taking out an entire hall of armed thugs, before Johnson enters the hall, sees a giant fellow a foot taller than him, and immediately punches him out. After knocking all the guards unconscious, the pair use two of them to pass through a pair of iris scanners to enter another room. However, the trick doesn’t work for Statham, who repeatedly smashes his guard’s head against the scanner in frustration (much to Johnson’s amusement).
Vanessa Kirby’s Hobbs & Shaw character (Shaw’s MI6 agent sister, Hattie) also gets an introduction in the new trailer, as she leads an uncover mission to (by the look of things) infiltrate the villain Brixton’s organization. Speaking of which: Brixton is played by Idris Elba, who even refers to himself as the “black Superman” at one point during the trailer. Helen Mirren also shows up here as the Shaw family matriarch Magdalene (who’s in prison at the moment). The trailer further offers a glimpse at the film’s many action sequences, including a scene where Johnson and Statham are piloting a jet together and are meant to eject themselves at the same time… only for Johnson to eject the latter early, laughing that he always wanted to do that.
Eventually, Johnson and Statam are shown going to Hawaii, where Johnson says he needs his “brothers” (also, lots of cars). The trailer includes quick shots of the Hobbs family modifying vehicles for their needs and doing a Samoan version of Haka with melee weapons in traditional clothing, shirtless, and then battling Brixton’s “army” in Hawaii. This all leads to the - literally - biggest sequence featured in the CinemaCon trailer, as a collection of vehicles (presumably, the ones Hobbs’ brothers modified) are shown being pursued by a big army helicopter. The lead vehicle makes a jump and Johnson leaps and throws giant ropes over the helicopter’s wings, as the other cars’ drivers toss chains to one another and hook their vehicles together, all while they approach a cliff-side over the ocean. As they drive/fly off the cliff, the cars are all linked to one another and Johnson holds them together with the helicopter, chains or ropes held in each of his hands (think Captain America holding a helicopter in Civil War).
All in all, it seems Hobbs & Shaw really is shaping up to be the most over the top Fast & Furious movie yet (which is truly saying something). The film’s marketing is also banking heavily on the funny exchanges between Johnson and Statham to sell the whole thing. It’s a smart strategy too, seeing as the pair had an unexpected amount of chemistry during their scenes together in The Fate of the Furious. Fingers crossed, the latest Hobbs & Shaw trailer footage will make its way online for everyone else to appreciate sooner than later.
MORE: Everything You Need to Know About Hobbs & Shaw
- Hobbs and Shaw Release Date: 2019-08-02 F9: The Fast Saga Release Date: 2021-06-25