"We’ve become a family and I’m thrilled to be coming home"
Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift director Justin Lin and Universal have signed a multi-year film and TV deal to work together.
Lin’s entertainment banner Perfect Storm Entertainment was formed in 2012 and will now work with Universal Pictures and Universal Studio Group.
The Universal group produced five of the nine Fast & Furious films and Lin has directed three of them.
“Universal gave me my shot when they offered me the Fast franchise a decade and a half ago,” Lin said. “Over the course of these years together, we’ve become a family and I’m thrilled to be coming home. While our relationship started with Fast, we have a lot more stories we want to share with audiences around the world.
“We love working with the Universal Pictures and Studio Group teams and know that together we’ll continue to put forward the compelling, high caliber storytelling our audiences want.”
Perfect Storm Entertainment will have a first-look production agreement with the studio with the ninth Fast & Furious film – F9– being their first.
The entertainment powerhouses will also team up for TV projects for both internal and external networks including NBCUniversal’s new streaming service, Peacock.
“Justin has been an integral part of the Universal family for 15 years, and his creative vision helped propel the Fast & Furious series into one of the studio’s biggest and most beloved global franchises,” said Peter Cramer, President of Universal Pictures.
“He’s raised the bar again with his incredible work on the upcoming F9, and we are thrilled to welcome him and his Perfect Storm team back to Universal. We know that Perfect Storm will be one of our key suppliers of high-quality, event films for global audiences in the years to come.”