Following the tragic death of Fast & Furious star Paul Walker, it was an inevitability that Fast & Furious 7 would be facing some severe production issues, and likely see production halted, at least for the time being; something which Universal have now confirmed by releasing an official statement, stating that they have “shut down production on Fast & Furious 7.”
While the announcement of an indefinite shut down shouldn’t come as much of shock to fans, it’s nevertheless left onlookers with a number of questions regarding the future of the seventh film in the Fast franchise; a film which had already completed a large portion of its location shooting, and was scheduled for release next July.
After Paul Walker’s fatal car crash many claimed the Fast 6 sequel would now have to start from scratch, and head right back to the drawing board to accommodate for the unexpected change, others predict a re-casting, or even scrapping the franchise altogether (something Universal were never going to do; considering the franchise has already netted them a hefty $2.4 billion), but for now it all remains nothing but rumours and guesswork.
Universal’s own statement suggests that the future of the film is uncertain at this point, given that not all location shooting had been completed, and that Paul hadn’t yet completed all of his scenes, but they are using the shut-down time to “assess all options available to move forward with the franchise”, and insist the franchise will move forward; suggesting that, in some form or another Fast & Furious 7, will go ahead.
The official statement from Universal (in which the studio promises to keep fans informed) can be found below, following the studio’s official Paul Walker tribute video.
Matt Wheeldon.
Source: Universal (via Deadline).
“Right now, all of us at Universal are dedicated to providing support to Paul’s immediate family and our extended Fast & Furious family of cast, crew and filmmakers. At this time we feel it is our responsibility to shut down production onFast & Furious 7 for a period of time so we can assess all options available to move forward with the franchise. We are committed to keeping Fast & Furious fans informed, and we will provide further information to them when we have it. Until then, we know they join us in mourning the passing of our dear friend Paul Walker.”
