Fast & Furious Movie Marathon Includes Han Origin Prequel

An upcoming Fast & Furious movie marathon includes the franchise’s semi-official Han origin movie, Better Luck Tomorrow. Sung Kang joined Fast & Furious in its third entry alongside director Justin Lin. His role as Han didn’t appear to be one that would last, as the character died at the end of the film, but the franchise later retconned Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift‘s placement in the timeline. This allowed Han to return in the fourth, fifth, and sixth installments before his death happened again. And yet, Han will be back for F9 as the franchise looks to deliver on the promise of #JusticeForHan.

The ninth movie in the Fast & Furious franchise was scheduled to come out in the summer of 2020 but got pushed to 2021 due to COVID-19. Even though it is already in theaters in several international territories, many fans are still waiting for F9 to be released. Universal Pictures has tried to make this wait more bearable with free screenings of each movie in participating theaters on Fridays. This gave fans another chance to rewatch the Fast & Furious films prior to the latest entry in the popular franchise. The latest Fast & Furious marathon goes a step further, though.

Alamo Drafthouse recently announced a 24-hour Fast & Furious movie marathon to get fans ready for F9. The digital event takes place on June 19th and gives fans a chance to watch all eight main entries in the series, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, and much more. One of the main additions to the lineup is the inclusion of Justin Lin’s 2002 film, Better Luck Tomorrow, which also stars Sung Kang as Han and serves as a prequel for the fan-favorite character. Fans can purchase access to the screener event on Alamo’s website.

The story of Better Luck Tomorrow follows a group of Asian American students who are bored with their regular lives. This leads them to begin a small life of crime, with Kang’s Han being the enforcer of the group. Their small crimes quickly escalate and bring them to be involved with the murder of another teenager. It sets up Han’s future as a criminal, and the Fast & Furious movies have connected to this backstory in different ways, such as explaining Han’s frequent eating comes from him being a smoker when he was younger.

Despite Better Luck Tomorrow‘s unofficial connection to the Fast & Furious franchise, it is still a highly underseen movie. Its inclusion in this movie marathon could help change that, even for the most hardcore fans. There is also the chance that Better Luck Tomorrow will gain more relevance to the franchise once F9 is released. Justin Lin is back directing the blockbuster film and wants to bring #JusticeForHan. This has to include the explanation for how he is alive now, but it might also mean referencing other pieces of Han’s backstory that Better Luck Tomorrow established.

Source: Alamo Drafthouse

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Cooper Hood
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Cooper Hood is a news and feature writer for Screen Rant. He joined Screen Rant in late 2016 following a year-long stint with MCU Exchange, which came after first developing an MCU blog of his own. He graduated college in 2016 with a Bachelor’s degree in Media & Public Communication, with a minor in Media Production. Cooper’s love for movies began by watching Toy Story and Lion King on repeat as a child, but it wasn’t until The Avengers that he took an invested interest in movies and the filmmaking process, leading him to discover the world of film journalism. Every year Cooper looks forward to seeing the latest blockbusters from the likes of Marvel, DC, and Star Wars, but also loves the rush to catch up on Oscar films near the end of the year. When he isn’t writing about or watching new releases, Cooper is a fantasy football obsessive and looking to expand his Blu-Ray collection – because physical media is still king! Follow Cooper on Twitter @MovieCooper.

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