Top Film Industry Stories of 2013: #5
Paul Walker's death leaves Hollywood reeling
By David Mumpower
January 9, 2014
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Ignoring the personal tragedy of a 28-year-old losing his life in such an avoidable tragedy, The Crow became something of a novelty as a theatrical release. The odd circumstances of the star’s death combined with the supernatural aspect of the subject matter fostered an odd appeal that may not have existed for the title otherwise. While the production must have been a nightmare to complete without its titular lead, The Crow was a gothic story that had always been filmed with highlights on shadow and smoke. Lee himself was draped in costume, his face covered in make-up. The Crow was a comic book adaptation, after all.
The altered nature of Lee’s appearance allowed the production crew to perform the final scenes sans its lead actor. When the movie was released in theaters, few people could tell when Lee did and did not appear in a scene. The interest created by his death caused the movie to become a box office hit, one of the 25 most popular releases of 1994. It grossed $50.7 million domestically as well as $94 million overseas, a dazzling performance for a $23 million production. A blockbuster that has become a cult classic to boot, The Crow is unique over the past quarter century of cinema due to the death of its lead during filming. The Crow was an unheralded production whose fame was largely built upon calamity.
A less heralded yet similar instance occurred with The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. While everyone who has ever watched a movie knows by now that Heath Ledger died after filming The Dark Knight, few are aware of his follow-up project, a Terry Gilliam production that earned only $7.7 million in North America. The explanation for the movie’s domestic failure is simple. With Ledger passing away only a third of the way through the production, a series of stars including Johnny Depp stepped up to portray Ledger’s character at different points in the tale. The weirdness of the idea effectively sabotaged it before it had any hope of achieving popularity in North America.
On November 30, 2013, history repeated itself again. Paul Walker, the face of Fast and Furious franchise, died in a high speed car wreck. People have been captivated by the ensuing details of the story, primarily because of the nature of the actor’s death. The man whose career was predicated upon glamorizing driving cars recklessly became an unfortunate casualty as a passenger in the car of a friend going over 100 miles per hour. On a personal level, his death is terrible. From an industry perspective, it is a one of a kind event. A thespian dying midway through filming of a hugely popular franchise is historically unprecedented.
Consider that The Fast and the Furious debuted in 2001. It too was an unheralded production yet it grossed over $200 million against a frugal $37 million budget. The half a dozen franchise titles released thus far have earned an average of $132.2 million domestically, roughly $400 million worldwide. Only one out of the six titles failed to top $100 million in North America and $200 million globally. Guess which movie did not star Paul Walker.
Any time a person dies well before their time is tragic. In the case of Walker’s wrenching demise, the ramifications will have ripple effects for the foreseeable future. The actor was approximately halfway through filming for Fast & Furious 7, the latest franchise film that had been scheduled for release in July of 2014. Understandably, the death of Walker represents a chaotic turn of events that stopped filming of the project while the producers and others involved plotted their next course of action.
Over time, we learned that the halted project had enough insurance to pay for the tens of millions of dollars already spent, meaning that Universal Pictures had an easy out if they wanted to step back from the $150 million production. That would have been an understandable move. The cast was bereft over the loss of the extremely popular Walker. Vin Diesel, the other lead in the series, has offered multiple heart wrenching anecdotes about his deceased friend. Nobody would have blamed Universal for shuttering the Fast and Furious franchise for a few years.
As of the publication date of this article, the situation with Fast & Furious 7 remains fluid. There have been indications that the studio wants to honor the memory of Walker by keeping him in the picture. Those involved with the prior filming believe that there is enough quality material to use Walker’s character, Brian O'Connor. The current plan is to write him out via retirement rather than crassly allow art to imitate life by killing his character in a car chase.
From a financial perspective, the people involved with the production are aware of the fact that the loss of their friend is not only historically unprecedented but also likely to heighten anticipation for Fast & Furious 7. After all, the same mechanics boosted the box office of The Dark Knight after Heath Ledger’s death. And The Crow was unlikely to achieve anywhere near the popularity it garnered during initial release if not for the death of Brandon Lee. The reality is that for projects with widespread appeal (i.e. the ones not directed by Terry Gilliam), a tragedy such as the death of Paul Walker can be hugely beneficial to the bottom line.
The concern is that the intention for the seventh title was to build the mythology for at least another two movies. In Walker’s absence, Universal is left scrambling to somehow be respectful to the anchor actor from the franchise while still sustaining the franchise beyond the next film. They are not the only movie makers caught in flux by this turn of events. Walker was attached to several other features at the time of his death. They included a sequel to Hitman entitled Agent 47, a Nicholas Sparks romance called The Best of Me and a smaller production named Brick Mansions. Agent 47 has re-cast the lead, Brick Mansions continued filming without Walker and The Best of Me is currently lacking a male star.
All of the above demonstrates how much impact the death of a single movie star can have on the entire industry. The multi-billion dollar franchise that Walker helped to build from the ground up has been thrown into chaos. Several other productions suddenly found themselves lacking a lead actor. And nobody knows what will happen next with Fast & Furious 7, much less future franchise sequels. The worst aspect of all, however, is that a 15-year-old girl is now left without her father.