Fast 7 already was on a tight schedule to meet its July 11 release date, which now likely will also shift. On Dec. 2, after two days of meetings that included NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke in Los Angeles, sources tell THR, the studio notified cast and crew that production would be on hold indefinitely.
On Wednesday morning, Universal released a statement confirming THR's report:
“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 on Fast & 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."
Walker was reprising his role as Brian O'Conner; sources say he made $8.5 million for Fast 6 and between $9 million and $13 million for Fast 7; he also had backend participation. Sources say that Fast 7's production was organized to film the more conversational elements of the movie first and the action sequences later in order to ease director James Wan (who is taking over the franchise from Justin Lin) into the big-budget filmmaking process. In January, Walker and the rest of the Fast 7 team were scheduled to travel to Abu Dhabi to film additional scenes, including a major action sequence that was set to open the film.
