While not considered a win when it came to its theatrical numbers, World War Z is close to getting a green light to move forward with a sequel. The 2013 film did $540 million in theaters during its run on a $190 million budget so it didn’t result in a positive cash flow there, though with some of the other avenues in the after theatrical market it likely added some coin there. Producer Brad Pitt has been trying to get the sequel going for a bit, and hoping to avoid the production problems that ballooned the first film with reshoots and scripting changes, but we knew previously that Marc Forster wasn’t coming back for another go at it and Juan Antonia Bayona opted out last year.
There’s been rumor that David Fincher may be interested in the film and that’s gaining more traction now as Paramount’s new head, Jim Gianopolous, has a good relationship with Fincher after working with him on Gone Girl. And with Fincher having been working TV projects for the last few years, it’d be a welcome way to bring him back to the theatrical side and you can see the marketing bonuses there. Add in that Pitt and Fincher have their own history together across several projects, you can see it being a win for both of them to work together on this.
Having enjoyed the first film, flaws and all, a sequel would be opened up to any number of directions to proceed in and it would be interesting to see how it would go.
Original concept: A U.N. employee is racing against time and fate, as he travels the world trying to stop the outbreak of a deadly Zombie pandemic.
