Obviously, nobody can return Paul Walker to life or replace him in the shooting stage. Moreover, his absence can cost a lot of money, and in this particular case, losses could jump as high as $50 million.
That’s the sum Universal is trying to claim from its insurance in order to accomplish the Fast & Furious 7 movie without its star, Paul Walker, who died in a car accident about half a year ago.
When the fatal crash happened, Universal Pictures was in the middle of the process of filming Fast & Furious 7. Instead of giving up the work or starting from scratch (both scenarios are extremely expensive), they chose to finish the film, inviting other actors (including Paul’s brothers) and combining it with computer graphics where absolutely necessary.It will not only take some significant amount of extra time (including some highly paid stars’ salaries like Vin Diesel’s), but also an extremely challenging task to perfectly combine real video and computer animation to achieve Paul Walker’s photo-realistic likeness and aliveness on screen.
Fortunately, Universal has insured for such a catastrophic case, and with the delays and added costs moving towards finishing the movie. The Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company is working out the specifics with the studio’s insurance broker. If it results in paying the entire sum, it will be the largest insurance claim of its kind in history.
