An animated Fast & Furious series is headed to Netflix. It is the first series in an expansion of an ongoing multi-year deal between Netflix and DreamWorks Animation Television for original animated kids and family programming. The expansion, following Comcast-NBCUniversal’s acquisition of the animation studio, includes a first look at DreamWorks Animation animated series based on Universal film properties. First off is Fast & Furious, based on Universal’s multi-billion dollar franchise. The series is executive produced by Vin Diesel, Neal Moritz and Chris Morgan, producers on the live-action movies. DreamWorks will also continue creating series based on original and acquired IP.
In the Fast & Furious animated series, teenager Tony Toretto follows in the footsteps of his cousin Dom when he and his friends are recruited by a government agency to infiltrate an elite racing league serving as a front for a nefarious crime organization bent on world domination. Tim Hedrick (DreamWorks Voltron Legendary Defender) and Bret Haaland (All Hail King Julien) will serve as executive producers and showrunners.
“We are thrilled to take our fantastic partnership with DreamWorks Animation to the next level with new opportunities from the vast library of Universal Pictures,” said Melissa Cobb, Netflix’s VP of Kids and Family. “The Fast & Furious franchise is a global phenomenon beloved by audiences of all ages, and we can’t wait to get started on the new animated series that will capture the action, heart, humor and global appeal of the feature films.”
The expansion builds upon Netflix’s successful five-year relationship with DWA TV, which became one of the streaming service’s first major content supplier and has delivered 14 original series to date, including Trollhunters from Guillermo del Toro, Spirit Riding Free and All Hail King Julien, with an additional four series slated to debut in 2018. Since 2013, DreamWorks series on Netflix have garnered 17 Emmy Awards, with an additional 21 nominations recently received from the 2018 Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
“We are excited to extend and expand our successful relationship with Netflix by not only delivering more high-quality DreamWorks programming, but connecting fans of Universal films with fascinating new stories,” said Margie Cohn, President of DreamWorks Animation Television. “Our new home at Universal marks an exciting new chapter for storytelling at our studio, and Fast & Furious is only the beginning.”
Fast & Furious has become Universal’s most-profitable and longest-running franchise, earning more than $5 billion worldwide over the course of eight films. Furious 7 was one of the fastest movies to reach $1 billion worldwide in box-office history and the sixth-biggest global title of all time. It was followed by The Fate of the Furious, which debuted in theaters as the biggest global opening ever. The next film in the franchise hits theaters in July 2019, while chapters 9 and 10 arrive in April 2020 and April 2021.
