By: Henry Wong
In late November of 2013, Paul Walker, one of the main stars in the Fast and Furious series, was involved in a car crash that tragically ended his life. At this time, he was also filming the latest movie in the series, Furious 7. Although death is not usually looked at with alacrity, in this case, Paul Walker’s death became another reason to become acquainted with the series.
Universal Studios went to great lengths to complete the movie as if Paul Walker was alive by using Walker’s brothers as body doubles and even using CGI face replacement. Advertising for the movie can also be viewed as if Walker’s death never happened to an extent and it is still obvious that Paul Walker is not forgotten.
It is no doubt that Furious 7 would do well with or without the death of Paul Walker since its predecessors made anywhere from 300 to nearly 800 million dollars, but his death gave fans all the more reason to see it. Additionally any news, whether it be controversial, scandalous, or in this case tragic, brings in more viewers.
With all of this, the release was pushed back from July 10, 2014 to April 3, 2015. Furious 7 could be seen as a movie tribute to Paul Walker. The storyline did not change all that dramatically either as the underlying theme of the series which shows friends who are like family was still present and the true emotions of the actors can be witnessed through the characters as the actors were all very close in real life.
