As most expected, Universal’sThe Fate of the Furiousopened huge this weekend, with $98.7 million domestic and an all-timeworldwide box office recorddebut of $531.9 million, just surpassing the $529 million worldwide opening weekend box office thatStar Wars: The Force Awakensbrought in 2015. While the movie is definitely a hit around the world, it seems that these fans were almost treated to a post-credit scene, although it was ultimately yanked by star/producerVin Diesel. However, it’s possible that this scene may be included on the Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD release later this year.
The Wrapreports that this scene is one of the casualties of the feud between starsVin DieselandDwayne Johnson. In this movie, former rivals Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) and Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) are teamed up together, to go after Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), with insiders claiming that this scene would have kept the banter between Luke and Deckard going. Here’s what an insider had to say about this scene, which was described as a “tag” to the main story.
“They had early screenings whereJohnson and Stathampopped so much on-screen together that they were looking at doing a spinoff.”
Insiders claim that producerNeal Moritzhad filmed this post-credit scene withoutVin Diesel’s knowledge, but another executive producer,Samatha Vincent,Vin Diesel’s sister, found out about the scene, and whenVin Dieselfound out about it, he became “enraged.“Vin Dieselcalled the studio, NBC Universal to “explosively air his grievances.” This reportedly lead to the studio recalling all theatrical prints to cut the scene out. However, another insider claims that the scene was shot specifically as “bonus content” for the Blu-ray/DVD/Digital HD release, and while the studio loved the scene, it was not chosen for the theatrical release, with this other insider claiming the studio thought, “the sequence would make for a better opportunity somewhere else.”
No actual details about what happens in this scene were given, but if the second insider’s claims are true, then perhaps this scene will see the light of day on the home video release. While production was winding down last August,Dwayne Johnsonraised some eyebrows with a cryptic social media post where he called out some of his male co-stars for being “candy asses.” WhileDwayne Johnsonnever identified the subject of his rant, it has long been believed to beVin Dieselwho has been known to be difficult to work with. While the studio brushed the incident aside, this feud doesn’t seem to be over by any means.
Studio reps claimed that this incident would not impact the promotion and publicity of the film, but that may not have been exactly true. After spending the first two days at CinemaCon promoting Sony’sJumanjiand Paramount’sBaywatch,Dwayne Johnsonleft the convention before Universal brought out several of itsThe Fate of the Furiousstars, includingVin Diesel. There were reports that both stars were being kept separated during the press tour, but it doesn’t seem that this feud has affect its box office performance, afterThe Fate of the Furious' record-breaking opening weekend. Universal hasn’t confirmed yet whenThe Fate of the Furiouswill be released on Blu-ray or DVD yet, or if this post-credits tag will be featured on the home video release yet.
