Fast & Furious 7 to resume in April

After taking an extended hiatus after the sudden death of Paul Walker, Universal announced their intent to pick production back up on Fast & Furious 7 in April. There is an estimated 6-8 weeks left of filming and the hiatus, so far, has lasted almost three months. Production will pick up in Atlanta which is where it was scheduled to go after Thanksgiving.

They also announced their intent to use the footage of Walker that had been filmed prior to his death in a tasteful way to "retire" his character, not kill him off. Fast & Furious 7 is being directed by horror director James Wan and received a new release date of April 10, 2015. It was originally set for release this July.

Fast & Furious 7 pushed to 2015

I figured this was coming.

Vin Diesel announced via Facebook that Fast & Furious 7 has officially joined a very crowded release year as it has been moved to April 10, 2015. This is almost a full year after the original planned release of July 11, 2014.

The move comes after Paul Walker's unexpected and sudden death on November 30th. Universal delayed production indefinitely to give all cast and crew, along with the fans, proper time to grieve the loss. There was some speculation that with fast work they could still make the release date because they were reportedly halfway done with filming, but in the end it seems they figured the best thing to do would be to delay. I think this is for the best because now they have enough time to fix what needed to be fixed and to figure out how to move forward.
Despite the news of the new release date, there is still no explanation on plot details or what will become of Walker's character, Brian O'Conner.

Vin Diesel officially joins Guardians of the Galaxy

It has been rumored for months now, but we finally have confirmation that Vin Diesel will be playing Groot in Guardians of the Galaxy. He joins Chris Pratt, Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, Michael Rooker, and Lee Pace. Guardians of the Galaxy is being directed by James Gunn and is set for release on August 1, 2014.

If you aren't aware, Groot is a highly intelligent tree-like alien. Groot will be voiced by Diesel as he is assumed to be full CGI along with Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper). Originally, Groot was interested in capturing humans for experimentation, but after being destroyed by both termites and the Hulk he was captured by S.H.I.E.L.D. and made part of the Guardians team. Groot was also a warrior in the battle against Thanos, so he is an important aspect of this movie.

Vin Diesel in talks for Guardians of the Galaxy

Despite speculation that Vin Diesel was going to play Vision, Thanos, or Ultron, it seems that he is going to be part of Guardians of the Galaxy. Deadline is reporting that Diesel is in talks to voice Groot, an extraterrestrial plant monster.

News of this came with a rather interesting twist. Diesel apparently changed his Facebook picture to a photo of Groot, but it was quickly taken down and the photo was deleted. Now, this all could be a classic misguided trick by Marvel but I am not doubting it. It probably wasn't announced at D23 this weekend because Diesel hasn't secured any Marvel role yet. We will wait and see.

Guardians of the Galaxy opens on August 1, 2014.

James Wan to direct Fast and Furious 7

Oh, I haven't laughed like this in a while.


James Wan (Saw, Insidious) has reportedly been selected to direct Fast and Furious 7 and is in talks to secure the spot due to the fact that Justin Lin is not returning to direct. If this happens he will have beaten out Jeff Wadlow, Harold Zwart, and Baltazar Kormakur for the director's chair.
Universal is planning for a release pretty soon (rumored for summer 2014) so this production needs to pick up the pace. So far we have Vin Diesel and Paul Walker returning. If Wan secures the role, which he probably will, the only thing he has going on right now is post-production for Insidious: Chapter 2 which is slated for a September 13, 2013 release. He also will have upcoming press for The Conjuring which is released on July 19, 2013.

I find it a bit odd that they are choosing a horror director for this movie, but I might actually see it. i haven't seen a Fast and Furious since Tokyo Drift... that shit.