Universal Pictures has not commented on the status of Fast & Furious 7 following the death of Paul Walker, but The Hollywood Reporter has an update.
According to the trade, the movie was on hiatus for Thanksgiving when Walker died in the fiery car crash on Saturday. Universal executives and director James Wan held a conference call on Sunday morning to discuss the state of the film, whether rewrites would be necessary and how to proceed in a manner that would be respectful to Walker’s death.
The movie is facing a delay in production but won’t be abandoned. They add that Walker and the rest of the cast and crew had been scheduled to return to Atlanta on Sunday to resume shooting the seventh installment, but those plans are on hold until today or tomorrow at the earliest.
THR says Fast & Furious 7 was already on an expedited schedule in order to make the July 11, 2014 release, so any delay in production could impact that release date. A large part of the film had been shot, although in January, Walker and the rest of the production were scheduled to travel to Abu Dhabi to film additional scenes.
Universal issued the following statement on Saturday:
“All of us at Universal are heartbroken. Paul was truly one of the most beloved and respected members of our studio family for 14 years, and this loss is devastating to us, to everyone involved with the FAST AND FURIOUS films, and to countless fans. We send our deepest and most sincere condolences to Paul’s family.”
And the studio posted this photo on the official “Fast & Furious” Facebook page:
