Hasta La Creative!

If history is a guide, Comcast Corp.’s Universal Pictures will complete “Fast & Furious 7” following the Saturday car crash that killed one of its stars, actor Paul Walker.

Going back to 1926’s “The Son of the Sheik,” Hollywood studios have brought films into theaters with success even after the death of their stars. Rudolph Valentino was 31 when he died of a perforated ulcer two weeks before that film’s release. It grossed more than $1 million for United Artists. James Dean was nominated for an Oscar for his role in “Giant,” which reached screens after his 1955 death.

The latest “Fast & Furious,” only partly completed when Mr. Walker died, may outdraw the earlier pictures, according to Howard Suber, a professor emeritus at the school of theater, film and television at the University of California Los Angeles. A premature death can add to the mystique of a performer, he said, noting Marilyn Monroe’s enduring fame.

Continue reading at AdAge.com