'Fast' movies to become "heist action"

The Fast series will move away from street racing and focus more on heists in future instalments of the franchise.

Universal Studios chairman Adam Fogelson also called Fast Five (aka Fast & Furious 5) a "transitional movie".

Fogelson told Deadline: "We've heard so many people say, 'I've never seen [a Fast film], and I've never wanted to see one'.

"So if these movies were still about street racing, there was probably a ceiling on how many people would buy tickets. We wanted to see if we could raise it out of about racing and make car driving ability just a part of the movie, like those great chases in The French Connection, The Bourne Identity [and] The Italian Job."

In addition, Fogelson revealed that Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, who plays an elite DSS agent tasked with tracking down Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) in Fast Five, wants to be involved in the already-announced sequel.

As for how the series will move forward, Fogelson teased: "We've absolutely left perfect room for where we want to go with this franchise.

"I don't want to give away too much, but there are a lot of surprises at the end of Fast Five involving one of the biggest characters of the previous movies which will set up the franchise now as a series of heist action films."

Fast Five opens in the US on April 29 and is already out in the UK.

Watch a trailer for Fast Five below: