Samuel L Jackson talks Incredibles 2, Fast and Furious changes gear and Fantastic Beasts will be a trilogy

The tragic death of Paul Walker brought grief to the whole film industry. The production of action sequel Fast and Furious 7 was greatly set back as Walker has always been at the centre of the series. Rewrites and major plot changes had to take place before filming could restart but Instagram have confirmed that the second part of production has begun.

The new instalment sees the team under attack from the vengeful Ian Shaw, brother of Fast 6’s villain. The film reunites Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Jordana Brewster, Paul Walker, Lucas Black and Michelle Rodriguez and introduces to the series Ronda Rousey, Kurt Russell, Djimon Hounsou and Jason Statham. The ensemble is directed by horror legend James Wan, the man behind Saw, Insidious and The Conjuring.

Pixar recently established that Brad Bird is working on a sequel to the brilliant animation The Incredibles. Out of all the ensemble cast, the superpowered family (Craig T Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Spencer Fox) are the most rememberable, as well as the scene stealing Syndrome, Edna Mode and Jack Jack. It’s easy to forget Frozone, played by Pulp Fiction, Avengers Assemble, Django Unchained, Star Wars and Jurassic Park’s Samuel L Jackson, although he has the best line in the film:

“Honey, where is my super suit?”

While on the press tour for Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Samuel L Jackson answered Digital Spy’s questions on his involvement with the sequel. “Every time I run into Brad, he always tells me Frozone is part of what’s going on, so I have to believe that. I guess they could be the Incredibles without Frozone, but I think Frozone would be a wonderful addition to what’s already there.”

The Harry Potter franchise ended with a bang in 2011 but we recently discovered that the book’s author JK Rowling wasn’t quite ready to leave Harry’s world for good. She’s writing the screenplay for the mock textbook Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them but the story may go further than that.

“As I considered Warners’ proposal, an idea took shape that I couldn’t dislodge. Although it will be set in the worldwide community of witches and wizards where I was so happy for 17 years, Fantastic Beasts is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the Harry Potter series, but an extension of the wizarding world.” That’s Rowling’s pitch for the film which is now set to become a trilogy, which we know to be set in New York seventy years before the events of Harry Potter.

This explains why Rowling was appointed originally. If they plan to make three films from a remarkably thin and plotless book then they need Rowling to ensure authenticity in the series, which’ll probably see magical zoologist Newt Scamander travelling the globe the discover the secrets of the world’s most fearsome and mysterious beasts.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – 2017?

The Incredibles 2 – 2018?

Fast and Furious 7 – April 10th 2015

Disney’s Roger Iger confirms Pixar are optioning The Incredibles 2

Toy Story 2 and 3 are certainly Pixar’s finest work but the one negative bi product was that it sent its creators into the disillusion that all sequels they could make would be equally great. This lead to the vastly disappointing Cars 2 and Monsters University and the upcoming Finding Dory while they’ve had much more success with their recent original concepts such as Wall-E, Up and Brave Despite all of this, the only sequel fans have genuinely demanded is the one that’s finally been shifted into development. The Incredibles, the action tale of a reluctant superhero family, has finally been optioned by Disney’s boss Roger Iger while the original’s director Brad Bird is set to begin work on a new script soon.

The fault they need to avoid this time is to share more of the feel of the first film. Cars 2 ditched a genuinely moving tale of a city slacker reluctantly stranded in the countryside which he soon falls in love with, not dissimilar to Local Hero, for an all-out generic spy spoof. Monsters Inc, although undeniably funny, was, at its heart, a jazz-age conspiracy thriller, a theme completely ditched in place of a campus comedy. We can expect the potential cast to include Craig T Nelson, Holly Hunter, Spence Fox, Sarah Vowell, Brad Bird, John Ratzenberger, Wallace Shawn and Samuel L Jackson.

If this seems too far away, you can catch plenty of Pixar in the coming years. 2015 will see The Good Dinosaur and Pete Docter’s Inside Out followed by Andrew Stanton’s Finding Dory in 2016.

The Incredibles 2 – 2017?

The Good Dinosaur – December 6th 2015

Inside Out – July 31st 2015

Finding Dory – July 19th 2016