The film is the first major Hollywood studio movie shot in Cuba in the past 50-plus years, after US-Cuban relations thawed after decades of confrontation. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The next installment of the car-racing cinematic franchise The Fast and the Furious is due soon. With a radical twist in the plot, expectations are high. Wang Kaihao reports.

In 2015, Furious 7, the seventh installment in the car-racing cinematic franchise The Fast and The Furious, distributed by Universal Pictures, earned more than $1.5 billion worldwide, and it remains the highest-grossing Hollywood blockbuster in the Chinese mainland with 2.4 billion yuan ($350 million) revenue from the box office.

So, perhaps, the franchise's fans are wondering if the latest film can break the record?

Well, the answer is probably "yes". At least, that is the expectation.

On April 14, the saga, which has run since 2001, will hit silver screens again with The Fate of the Furious, its eighth production, being premiered simultaneously in China and the United States.

Neal H. Moritz, the producer of the franchise since the beginning, says the new film "was really challenging because the bar was set so high by seven (Furious 7)".

"The audience has huge expectations. Honestly, we feel the responsibility to give them something satisfying."