Try and try again, I never seem to learn my lesson. It seems that Justin Lin may have bitten more than he could chew with regard to the gargantuan amount of products landing on his lap after watching Fast Five destroy the box office earlier this summer, and it seems he has to drop some of these projects in order to maintain a healthy schedule.
Source: The Film Stage
However, Deadline now tells us that Lin‘s involvement with Fast Six has led to his exit from the project, which would see Arnold Schwarzenegger returning to the project that made him a superstar. Both the actor and Megan Ellison — the current rights owner and head player in financing — have been planning to get production on “the first of two pictures” going during “the fourth quarter of 2012.” With a new Fast and the Furious coming out on May 24th, 2013, some conflicts inevitably came into play, and he’s now off it.
He already had to drop out of the Highlander reboot but I was really confident, as were many others, that Terminator would be one of the few he kept involved with due to the amount of planning and groundwork he’d already prepared for the return of the Governator. He is willing to return to the project if Ellison and company are willing to wait for him to free up some time.
Lin could jump back on if “Ellison and Schwarzenegger will wait” for the completion of the new Fast and Furious. You have to figure that the post-production on his next movie would make him busy until well into 2013, which could potentially mean a lot. The rights to this franchise are going back to James Cameron in 2018, which is considered a source of concern — but couldn’t they get two movies made in about five years?
I won’t hold my breath. By that time Lin’s name could be in even higher demand and to start hedging bets that he won’t consider other offers in that amount of time is laughable. I’m pretty bummed out that Lin had to drop out of this project but I do hope that there’s a backup plan with another director in mind who can devote themselves to the project within a reasonable time.
There is a backup plan, right?
