Was Furious 7 filmed unusually early?

Question

Every time I revisit the Fast and Furious movies and think about Paul Walker's death, it confuses me how they had finished most (not all, but most) of the filming in the same fall that Fast 6 came out, before he died on 30 November 2013. The franchise was on a 2-year pattern:

• Fast & Furious, 2009
• Fast 5, 2011
• Fast 6, 2013
• Furious 7, 2015

But by November 2013, they had managed to film most of the 2015 movie, such that they only had to use a few tricks to end the film without Walker. Is that unusually early to have nearly completed a summer 2015 movie?

Answer 1

• 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 was announced to direct the film.
• On April 16, 2013, Diesel announced that the sequel would be released on July 11, 2014.
• Principal photography began in early September 2013 and stopped in late November after Walker's death.
• Filming resumed April - July 2014.

Is that unusually early to have nearly completed a summer 2015 movie?

No, not when the movie was originally a 2014 release movie that started shooting the year before. Seems a standard schedule.

The so-called franchise pattern is not some kind of fixed 'thing'. Production and release schedules are subject to many different factors (talents conflicting schedules for example), and such a 'pattern' is not usually one of them.

Don't forget that in 2011, it was reported that 6 and 7 would be shot back to back with a single story running through both films. By 2012 it was confirmed that 7 would not start filming until 6 had been completed, so the planned shooting schedule was very fast in the first place - and had absolutely nothing to do with a '2-year release' schedule.

Wikipedia was used for release/production information.