Spinoff sees Rock change track

Leitch says it was very hard to find a villain that could stand up to Hobbs and Shaw physically, so he created a gene-enhanced bad guy.

"Brixton's not the Terminator, but he has been applied with the next level of human augmentation and prosthetics. It's a cutting-edge, futuristic scenario," he says.

Brixton is eventually beaten by the combined will and strength of Hobbs and Shaw.

"In the islands, we have a word called 'mama', which means spirit. I wanted to deliver something different to the audience that shows you can overcome challenges, not with weapons, not with technology, but with 'mama'," says Johnson. "It was the first time that we had the opportunity to explore Samoan culture and present it to the world."

Surprisingly, actors Ryan Reynolds and Kevin Hart joined the cast in supporting roles. In the movie, the Deadpool star jokes about Game of Thrones and adds some pop culture references into the mix.

And for Chinese audiences, there could be an even bigger surprise in store with the sequel.

Johnson reveals that while Chinese actor Wu Jing couldn't take part in Hobbs and Shaw due to a scheduling conflict, he is destined to "absolutely" show up in the sequel to the spinoff.

Statham also voices his respect for Chinese action stars.