2. Universal pictures
Universal Studios Inc. (also known as Universal Pictures)
is an American film studio, owned by Comcast through its
wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal, and is one of
Hollywood's "Big Six" film studios. Its production studios
are at 100 Universal City Plaza Drive in Universal City,
California. Distribution and other corporate offices are in
New York City. Universal Studios is a member of the
Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). Universal
was founded in 1912 by the German Carl Laemmle, Mark
Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat
Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, Robert H.
Cochrane, and Jules Brulatour.
It is the world's fourth oldest major film studio, after the
renowned French studios Gaumont Film Company and
Pathé, and the Danish Nordisk Film company.
By the late 1950s, the motion picture business
was
again changing. The combination of the
studio/theater-chain break-up and the rise of
television saw the reduced audience size for
cinema productions. The Music Corporation of
America (MCA), then predominately a talent
agency, had also become a powerful television
producer, renting space at Republic Studios for
its Revue Productions subsidiary. After a period
of complete shutdown, a moribund Universal
agreed to sell its 360-acre (1.5 km²) studio lot
to MCA in 1958, for $11 million, renamed
Revue Studios. MCA owned the studio lot, but
not Universal Pictures, yet was increasingly
influential on Universal's product. The studio lot
was upgraded and modernized, while MCA
clients like Doris Day, Lana Turner, Cary Grant,
and director Alfred Hitchcock were signed to
Universal Pictures contracts.
3. Fast and Furious 7
Furious 7 (often stylized as Furious Seven and
alternatively known as Fast Seven or Fast & Furious 7)is
a 2015 American action film directed by James Wan and
written by Chris Morgan. It is the seventh installment in
the Fast and the Furious franchise. The film stars Vin
Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Michelle
Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges,
Jordana Brewster, Kurt Russell, and Jason Statham.
Furious 7 follows Dominic Toretto (Diesel), Brian
O'Conner (Walker) and the rest of their team, who have
returned to the United States to live normal lives after
securing amnesty for their past crimes in Fast & Furious
6 (2013), until Deckard Shaw (Statham), a rogue special
forces assassin seeking to avenge his comatose
younger brother, puts them in danger once again.
With the previous three installments set between 2 Fast 2
Furious (2003) and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
(2006), Furious 7 is the first installment in the franchise to take
place after Tokyo Drift. The film also marks the final film
appearance of Walker, who died in a single-vehicle accident on
November 30, 2013, with filming only half-completed. Following
Walker's death, filming was delayed for script rewrites, and his
brothers, Caleb and Cody, were used among others as stand-
ins to complete his remaining scenes.
Plans for a seventh installment were first announced in February
2012 when Johnson stated that production on the film would
begin after the completion of Fast & Furious 6. In April 2013,
Wan, predominantly known for horror films, was announced to
direct the film in place of Justin Lin, who left the franchise after
directing the previous four installments. Casting began in the
same month with the re-signing of Diesel and Walker, and an
initial release date was set. Principal photography began in
Atlanta, Georgia, in September 2013, resumed in April 2014 and
ended in July 2014, with other filming locations including Los
Angeles, Colorado, Abu Dhabi and Tokyo
4. pre production
On October 21, 2011, the Los Angeles Times reported that
Universal Studios was considering filming two sequels—Fast
Six and Fast Seven—back-to-back with a single storyline
running through both films. Both would be written by Chris
Morgan and directed by Justin Lin, who had been the franchise's
writer and director, respectively, since The Fast and the Furious:
Tokyo Drift (2006). On December 20, 2011, following the
release of Fast Five, Vin Diesel stated that Fast Six would be
split into two parts, with writing for the two films occurring
simultaneously. On the decision, Diesel said: We have to pay off
this story, we have to service all of these character relationships,
and when we started mapping all that out it just went beyond
110 pages ... The studio said, 'You can't fit all that story in one
damn movie!'
However, in an interview on February 15, 2012, Dwayne
Johnson stated that the two intended sequels would no longer
be filmed simultaneously because of weather issues in filming
locations, and that production on Fast Seven would only begin
after the completion of Fast Six.
In April 2013, during post-production of the retitled Fast &
Furious 6, Lin announced that he would not return to direct a
seventh film, as the studio wanted to produce the film on an
accelerated schedule for release in summer 2014. This would
have required Lin to begin pre-production on the sequel while
performing post-production on Fast & Furious 6, which he
considered would affect the quality of the final product. Despite
the usual two-year gap between the previous installments,
Universal chose to pursue a sequel quicker due to having fewer
reliable franchises than its competitor studios.However,
subsequent interviews with Lin have suggested that the sixth
film was always intended to be the final installment directed by
him.
In April 2013, Australian director James Wan, predominantly
known for horror films, was announced as the sequel's director,
with Neal H. Moritz and Michael Fottrell returning to produce
and Morgan returning to write the script, his fifth in the franchise.
On April 16, 2013, Diesel announced that the sequel would be
released on July 11, 2014.In May 2013, Diesel said that the
sequel would feature Los Angeles, Tokyo and the Middle East
as locations.
5. production phase
Principal photography began in early September 2013 in
Atlanta, Georgia, with a casting call issued. Abu Dhabi was also
a filming location;the production crew chose it over Dubai, as
they would benefit from the Emirate's 30% rebate scheme.
Pikes Peak Highway in Colorado was closed in September to
film some driving sequences.
On September 16, the production filmed with Paul Walker and
the Kimsey twins, playing his son, Jack,in front of an Atlanta
elementary school.Han's funeral scene was filmed at Oakland
Cemetery, with extras needed for the scene being "hot, hip and
trendy cool types of all ethnicities between the ages of 18 and
45". On the evening of September 19, Lucas Black joined the
production for his sole scene with Diesel, in an Atlanta parking
garage. Separate scenes with Walker also shot in the same
location on the same night,including one half of a phone
conversation between his character and Jordana Brewster's.
The day after, Diesel posted a picture from the night shoot with
Black on his Facebook page.
On October 24, over a month into the film's production, Johnson
tweeted he had started shooting for the film after wrapping up on
Hercules.Five days later, Diesel posted the first photo of
Johnson on the set, in the hospital scene.
On November 30, 2013, while on a break for the Thanksgiving
holiday, Walker, who portrayed Brian O'Conner, died in a single-
vehicle accident.The next day, Universal announced that
production would continue after a delay that would allow the
filmmakers to rework the film.On December 4, 2013, Universal
put production on hold indefinitely.Wan later confirmed that the
film had not been cancelled.On December 22, 2013, Diesel
announced on his Facebook page that the film would be
released on April 10, 2015.On February 27, 2014, The
Hollywood Reporter reported that filming would resume on April
1, and that the cast and crew had headed to Atlanta to prepare
for about eight more weeks of shooting.Principal photography
ended on July 10, 2014.
