The sequel to World War Z had gotten a release date from Paramount for June 9th, 2017 back in May 2015 that will bring Brad Pitt back to the lead role. At the time, it was going to be directed by Juan Antonia Bayona, who got some positive nods for his work in The Orphanage and The Impossible. Now that looks to have ended as Bayona has departed the project after being involved with over the past year, citing that the timing doesn’t work. With the film needing to get underway this summer for its principal photography, his work on other projects means he won’t be prepared for it, so it’s apparently been an amicable split.
No word on who Paramount will want to have take over the chair next, though we don’t believe they’ll have a hard time finding someone. Though costs for the first film skyrocketed when the entire third act was scrapped and done again, the film still did solid numbers and the belief is that a sequel will do the same or more but cost less.
Steven Knight wrote the script for the film as it attempts to work in more material from the diary/novel as originally written Max Brooks. Knight has a few things to his resume over the last few years with writing credits for Seventh Son and the upcoming The Hundred Foot Journey, but he was also the writer and director on Locke. Since then, Paramount brought on Dennis Kelly for a rewrite.
