diff --git a/libavfilter/avfiltergraph.c b/libavfilter/avfiltergraph.c
index 26f8280109..5ff4447428 100644
--- a/libavfilter/avfiltergraph.c
+++ b/libavfilter/avfiltergraph.c
@@ -546,14 +546,14 @@ static int init(AVFilterContext *ctx, const char *args, void *opaque)
 {
     GraphContext *gctx = ctx->priv;
 
-    if(!args)
-        return 0;
-
     if(!(gctx->link_filter = avfilter_open(&vf_graph_dummy, NULL)))
         return -1;
     if(avfilter_init_filter(gctx->link_filter, NULL, ctx))
         goto fail;
 
+    if(!args)
+        return 0;
+
     return graph_load_chain_from_string(ctx, args, NULL, NULL);
 
 fail: