“Hours” featuring Paul Walker is still on schedule to open Friday, Dec. 13, in 15 select cities despite the death of its star, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Walker and fiend Roger Rodas were killed Saturday afternoon in a high-speed crash in Valencia.
THR reports that representatives of the distributors, Pantelion Films and Lionsgate, met Sunday with producer Peter Safran and decided to go ahead with the release.
“After lots of back and forth, this is our decision. It’s Paul’s tour de force. He’s in every frame of the movie,” Pantelion CEO Paul Presburger told THR.
Pantelion is a partnership between Lionsgate Entertainment and Grupo Televisa that caters to the Hispanic market.
In the film, Walker and his wife, played by Genesis Rodriguez – the progeny of a famous Venezuelan signer and a Cuban model – struggle to save their infant daughter in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Principal shooting was done in New Orleans.
Meanwhile Universal Pictures has suspended shooting “Fast & Furious 7.”
Walker and his “Fast & Furious” costar Vin Diesel were supposed to be shooting in Atlanta on Monday but instead Diesel was in Valencia for a semi-private gathering of friends and family at the crash scene. Onlookers were held back behind police tape. At one point Diesel spoke over the loudspeaker of a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s patrol car and thanked the crowd.
“If Paul could see for himself that all of you have showed up to show my brother love at this hard time, and the family gets to see all of you show the love that you’ve shown Paul – it’s going to stay with me forever,” Diesel said.
USA Today reports that “Fast & Furious 7” began shooting in September but hasn’t been completed. It’s scheduled for release July 10 in Europe and July 11 in the United States.
Another Walker vehicle is in post-production. In “Brick Mansions,” shot in the Netherlands, Walker plays a cop who takes down a crime lord who’s got access to a neutron bomb. It’s scheduled for release in the Netherlands late next year.
Walker Film On Track for Friday 13th Opening (Trailer)
