Paul Walker's death puts Fast & Furious 7 on hold
Film was set for July release
Production on Fast & Furious 7 is on hold following the death of star Paul Walker.
Shooting on the film had been scheduled to resume this week in Atlanta but was cancelled Monday and Tuesday.
A spokesman for Universal Pictures declined to say when shooting will resume. Production on the latest instalment of the franchise began in September.
While a large portion of the film has been shot, the movie is incomplete. It's scheduled for release in July, a date that could be difficult to meet with any lengthy delay.
The 40-year-old Walker died Saturday in a crash north of Los Angeles that also killed his friend Roger Rodas, who was driving.
Producers of another of Walker's films, the Hurricane Katrina drama Hours, announced this week they would release the movie as planned in theatres and video-on-demand in select U.S. cities on Dec. 13. Hours is set in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, with Walker playing the father of an ill newborn who is cut off from the world when the storm hits and the hospital is evacuated.
"Paul would have very much wanted us to move forward. He was incredibly proud of this project...He really looked to this movie to show people that he is an actor," Peter Safran, who co-produced the film with Walker, told industry publication The Hollywood Reporter.
"He was looking for something to showcase his acting skills, which he so rarely had the chance to do. He hit it out of the park."
Walker also stars in Brick Mansions, a remake of the French action film "District B13" that Relativity plans to release early next year.
Universal to donate proceeds
The Fast & Furious franchise, which has starred Walker in all but one instalment, is particularly lucrative for Universal. Fast and Furious 6, released in May, was the highest grossing film in the series, earning more than $788 million worldwide.
The manner of Walker's death — a fiery car crash in a specialty sports car — was also so reminiscent of the films that made him famous that Fast and Furious 7 will be under particular scrutiny for how it portrays the fatal risks of street car racing.
Universal announced Tuesday that it will donate a portion of the proceeds from the upcoming DVD, Blu-ray and digital release of Fast & Furious 6 to Walker's charity Reach Out Worldwide.
Walker, 40, founded Reach Out Worldwide in 2010 to give first-response aid to victims of natural disasters. Walker was hosting a fundraiser for the nonprofit on Saturday afternoon when he and Rodas went for a ride in Rodas' 2005 Porsche Carrera GT.
Walker's family also has asked that donations be made to Reach Out Worldwide in lieu of flowers or gifts.
Police investigators are examining the cause of the crash. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department says witnesses described the car "travelling alone at a high rate of speed" before the Porsche smashed into a light pole and tree, and then exploded in flames.
The Los Angeles County coroner's office said Tuesday that it has completed autopsies on the two bodies recovered from the crash.
On Monday night, a private memorial for survivors and the cast and crew of the Fast and Furious movies was held inside a white tent erected around the crash site in Valencia. When it was over, Walker's co-star Vin Diesel emerged to thank fans for paying their respects to the actor.
With files from CBC News