Will 'World War Z 2' EVER happen? Brad Pitt zombie blockbuster sequel faces 10-year production blues
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Zombies are still attracting audiences, with recent Netflix hit 'All of Us Are Dead' being the latest example. This raises the question about Paramount Pictures' 2013 blockbuster zombie movie 'World War Z'. Based on the 2006 novel of the same name by Max Brooks, the screenplay of 'World War Z' was written by Matthew Michael Carnahan, Drew Goddard and Damon Lindelof, and the movie is directed by Marc Forster.
'World War Z' stars Brad Pitt as Gerry Lane, Mireille Enos as Karin Lane, Daniella Kertesz as Segen, James Badge Dale as Captain Speke, Ludi Boeken as Jurgen Warmbrunn, Matthew Fox as Parajumper, Fana Mokoena as Thierry Umutoni, David Morse as Ex-CIA Agent and Elyes Gabel as Andrew Fassbach. The movie also sees Peter Capaldi, Pierfrancesco Favino, Ruth Negga and Moritz Bleibtreu as WHO Doctors, Sterling Jerins as Constance Lane, Abigail Hargrove as Rachel Lane, Fabrizio Guido as Tomas, David Andrews as Naval Commander and John Gordon Sinclair as Navy SEAL Commander
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'World War Z 2'
'World War Z' was released in 2013, to an overwhelming response from the audience and grossed more than $500 million. Now, this amount of success from the film would have acted as the springboard for the sequel immediately. But the Zombie apocalypse movie is facing several difficulties in making it possible. But this long delay for the sequel is not a surprise. For, during the making of 'World War Z', the crew faced several bumps along the way including rewrites and reshoots of the final act of the film, which caused the budget of the movie to skyrocket.
The Delays
It is to be noted that the sequel to 'World War Z' was announced shortly after the release of the film and the work of the pre-production of the movie commenced. However, the production hit several block roads along the way. At first director, Marc Forster and Paramount Pictures revealed that they envisioned the movie to be a trilogy. Later in 2013, it was announced that J. A. Bayona was roped in to direct the sequel. In 2014, it was said that Steven Knight would write the script for the sequel. At one point, 'World War Z 2' was announced to be released in 2017 but it was cancelled after Bayona went on to work on other projects. Yet another delay was caused when Brad Pitt went on to work in 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood', which further delayed the production of the movie.
Another important reason Paramount is hesitant is due to the ban in China on Zombies and Ghost movies. China is one of the biggest markets for movies, making this ban a huge concern. However, Co-producer Jeremy Kleiner has given the fans a glimmer of hope by saying the movie would happen someday.
And now it has been almost a decade since the first movie has been released and releasing a newer instalment to the franchise would actually be an amazing sequel, given the proper story.
A Quick Recap
The last time we see Brad Pitt as the Former United Nations investigator Gerry Lane, who has found the potential cure for the zombie outbreak. After Gerry finds that the Zombies won't attack terminally ill or severely injured people, he proposes the idea of infesting oneself with a pathogen to avoid zombies. The idea, fortunately, works making the survivors escape the zombie-infested area and even mount offences against them. If there were to be a sequel, it would focus on the full-on battle between the infected and the non-infected all the while finding a permanent cure to the zombie outbreak.
'World War Z' is available to stream on Netflix.
