The tragic death of Paul Walker has left a lot of questions up in the air, most notably the impact it would have on the already in-production Fast & Furious 7, which had director James Wan scrambling to try to make the planned July 11, 2014 release date. With production halted for an indeterminate time, it raised even more questions about whether that date was feasible, something Universal Pictures has remained quiet about.
At least one studio isn’t taking any chances of missing out on a plum post-Independence Day weekend in July, so 20th Century Fox moved their own sequel Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, directed by Matt Reeves, forward one week to the July 11 release date previously earmarked for Fast & Furious 7. (Having seen what Fast & Furious 6 did to The Hangover: Part 3 this past Memorial Day, few studios were willing to take the racing behemoth on.)
Of course, that still doesn’t mean that Universal Pictures has given up on trying to make that July 2014 date and until they make some sort of statement or officially confirm it, the weekend of July 11 will be a head-to-head battle.
This also leaves July 18 rather vacant with only Disney’s animated sequel Planes: Fire & Rescue on that date so far.
