John Cena's Fast & Furious Replacement Officially Releases On Streaming This Week

Published Oct 7, 2026, 9:31 AM EDT

Simon Gallagher has worked in movie and TV journalism for more than 17 years. He has written more than 6000 articles and reviews, and edited thousands more. He is an expert in the entertainment industry, particularly in the golden age of screen superheroes. Simon is also a Rotten Tomatoes approved critic.
 

It’s now been 3 years since the last Fast & Furious movie released in theaters, and we won’t see Dom Toretto reunite the family until 2028, despite the franchise pulling in an eye-watering $7.3 billion to date. You’d think any series with an average of over $660m per movie, with each of the last 6 entries surpassing that would be releasing something every year, but making Fast & Furious movies is hard.

Since Fast Five’s release in 2011, when the production budget was cited as $125m, the franchise has been on a prohibitive rocket, with Fast X costing $340m before factoring in marketing. You might ask why anyone cares, since it’s not our money, but as long as that number goes up, the number of sequels and spinoffs goes down, and Universal came perilously close to canceling the upcoming Fast & Furious 11 outright over budget concerns.

So what happens if the costs get too much? At the minute, we’re promised an expansion of the franchise: Fast & Furious 11 is on the way in March 2028, spinoff Hobbs & Reyes, with Dwayne Johnson and Jason Momoa, is supposedly still in the works, and the first of four live-action TV series is underway, also targeting a 2028 release. If Fast & Furious 11 costs significantly more than $200m, we might see some of those plans realized, but even successful franchises can price themselves out of existence. Fans will have to look elsewhere for their fuel-injected fun.

Luckily, after years of freedom from copycats (largely because all attempts to ape the franchise’s success died on arrival), Fast & Furious finally has some competition. And it’s coming from one of the franchise’s own stars: John Cena (who played Dom Toretto’s brother in the ninth and tenth entries), whose new high-octane car caper movie, Matchbox: The Movie, finally lands on Apple TV this week.

Matchbox: The Movie Is Apple's Perfect Fast & Furious Rival

Apple’s decision to jump headfirst into tub-thumping vehicular action may have been a bit of a headscratcher given the cinematic feel of such an idea, but when you look at what Matchbox: The Movie brings to the table, it does seem more logical. John Cena’s brand is strong, and the Fast & Furious movies have built up such box office armor that Apple can absolutely count on attention, which still appears to be their chief objective.

There’s no reported budget for the latest Mattel movie, but the Matchbox: The Movie trailer smells of money, and the cast hits the same blend of major star power (Cena and Jessica Biel), comedy chops (Sam Richardson and Arturo Castro), and veteran character actors (Kristofer Hivju, Bill Camp, and Corey Stoll) that doesn’t come cheap. There’s obviously an impressive cast of cars (and other vehicles too), and the story genetics match what you’d expect from a Fast & Furious rival.

That means we already know to expect big stunts, as revealed by the trailers, banter between an affectionate but disparate cast, a set up that allows not entirely legal activities, globe-trotting adventures, cartoonish bad guys, and a threat to the world in the shape of a stolen nuke. There are differences, of course - like the gang being Cena’s childhood friends unwittingly drawn into his espionage world, rather than actual criminals - but if we’re playing checkboxes here, there’s a lot of ticks.

Matchbox Can Kickstart A New Supercar Action Franchise

Mattel has obviously been aggressively expanding its cinematic universe since Barbie’s huge success, and there’s a lot more planned, but crucially for the company’s aspirations, Matchbox could kick off its own franchise.

The advantage here comes from the multigenerational fan base that has loved the brand and die-cast vehicles for decades, and whose nostalgia is being openly courted in Matchbox’s marketing. Kids now play with cars, but adults across the world who grew up playing with Matchbox toys and imagining their own stunts get a chance to see that play out on screen, rather than something more subversive like The LEGO Movie or Barbie.

While Matchbox may play a little older than the current core toy audience, thanks to its PG-13 rating, that’s at least more family friendly than the Fast & Furious movies, and shouldn’t alienate too much of the key demographic who could turn it into a franchise. Everything so far seems to suggest Mattel, Apple and Skydance have made a movie with appeal to younger viewers, but also an eye on the dedicated adult collectors who will get a kick out of seeing cars like the classic Ford Mustang on screen. The blueprint for longevity is there already: it’s just a matter of the movie delivering on its promise.

Matchbox: The Movie is released on Apple TV exclusively on Friday, October 9.

Matchbox the Movie

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  Sean

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  Jessica Biel

  Aimee

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  Sam Richardson

  Crosby

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  Arturo Castro

  Ted