Barricade your windows and bolt your doors, because the scariest zombies in cinema history are coming back to our screens in the near future. That’s right, after 12 years of waiting,World War Z 2finally received the update fans have been waiting for. Starring Brad Pitt, 2012’sWorld War Zwas a poor adaptation of the titular novel by Max Brooks. However, it was a decent action horror film in its own right, and has gained a cult following in the decade-plus since its release. This is predominantly thanks to its zombies, who sprint towards their targets faster than Tom Cruise can run in theMission: Impossiblemovies. The film might have fallen flat, but the zombies have etched themselves into horror fans' brains, and they’re coming back for a second time to haunt us all over again.
Following Paramount’s recent merger with Skydance, creating the now appropriately titled studio, Paramount-Skydance, many of the former studio’s major IPs received big updates.Top Gun 3and moreStar Trekmovies were confirmed to be in development. But no one expected the merger to be the catalyst forWorld War Z 2. A report fromThe Hollywood Reporterconfirmed that the new co-film chief, Josh Greenstein, seesWorld War Z 2as a high priority for Paramount-Skydance.
Why isWorld War Z 2suddenly gaining traction at Paramount-Skydance? There are many potential reasons. Greenstein could be a major fan of the 2013 zombie action thriller. Therecent success of28 Years Latercould have reignited studios' interest in the zombie genre. Or, maybe the sequel has coincidentally been freed from its development hell with a major script update. Only time will tell.
Why Has It Taken So Long for ‘World War Z 2’?
World War Zlikely isn’t your favorite zombie movie.But, despite modest reviews from critics and fans (it holds a 67% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with a 72% audience score),World War Zraked it in at the box office. The film grossed over $540 million worldwide, against an estimated budget of $190 million. It remains the highest-grossing zombie movie of all time. Hilariously,Hotel Transylvaniais in second place, withZombielandin third.
Due to its financial success, aWorld War Zsequel was announced shortly afterthe original’s theatrical release. However, the movie bounced in and out of development hell and was trapped in Hollywood purgatory… until now.World War Z’s rocky production was also likely to have influenced Paramount’s reluctance to move forward with the sequel.World War Zwas hampered by delays and rewrites, all of which caused its budget to skyrocket. It’s a miracle that the film made it to theaters in the first place.
When the first promos were released, there was also intense backlash from fans of Max Brooks' best-selling novel.World War Zis an adaptation of the book in its title alone. Almost everything else about the movie deviates from the source material, which was written as a fake journalistic report detailing the start of a zombie apocalypse.
World War Z 2
