Those excited to see Dwayne Johnson back as agent Hobbs in the upcoming Fast and Furious Spin-Off alongside Jason Statham's Deckard Shaw are going to have to wait just a little bit longer. Emphasis on the little bit part. Universal has bumped back the release date of the spin-off by one week, meaning it will come out just a bit later in the summer season next year. The movie is now set to arrive on August 2, 2019.

This moves the flick from its previous, July 26, 2019, release date. The Fast and Furious spin-off would have been all alone on its previous weekend, which is what makes this release date shift a little bit surprising. In its new date, The Rock will be duking it out at the box office with Dora The Explorer, of all things, as Paramount is releasing the live-action take on the Nickelodeon series on the same day. Fox also has the X-Men spin-off New Mutants set for that date and, to top it all off, Warner Bros. has an untitled event movie pegged for that day as well. That makes for a very crowded weekend.

New Mutants has already been delayed several times, so it wouldn't be too shocking to hear if that movie winds up shifting again. As for Dora The Explorer, a big-budget action movie with Dwayne Johnson seems like the perfect bit of counter-programming, so no real need to worry there. For what it's worth, this also gives director David Leitch (Deadpool 2, Atomic Blonde) just a tiny bit more time to get things squared away.

Universal also has set the Fast and Furious 9 date for April 2020. That means there will be just a six-month gap between the release of this spin-off and the next installment of the main franchise. Will that hurt one or both of the movies at the box office? And perhaps more importantly, that seems to make it far less likely that Dwayne Johnson will appear in the Fast and Furious 9 as well. Considering the feud he had with Vin Diesel during The Fate of the Furious and the resulting feud with Tyrese Gibson over this spin-off, that wouldn't ultimately be too shocking.

The Fast and Furious franchise has been on an upward trajectory ever since Dwayne Johnson joined during the events of Fast Five. With that in mind, it's no wonder Universal feels he can lead this spin-off, which gives them an opportunity to further cash in on the crowd-pleasing series. Plot details for the Hobbs spin-off are currently being kept under wraps, but Jason Statham in a recent interview teased a bit of what to expect saying, "Dwayne's got a big appetite for action, and he's got a great appetite for humor, and I'm sure it will be brimming with both of those things." That sounds about right. We'll be sure to keep you up to date as more details on the movie are made available. This news comes to us courtesy of Deadline.