There’s no denying that zombies were the big monsters on campus during the early to mid-2000s. The undead were everywhere, and audiences couldn’t seem to get enough of these rotting corpses that, not too long ago, were just like us. The Walking Dead helped usher in a newfound fascination with the undead, but we personally feel Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead remake was patient zero, if you will. That’s neither here nor there, though. We’re talking about zombies, and there was certainly no shortage of them during that era.
World War Z was among the films that helped define that zombie renaissance. Having a Hollywood heavyweight like Brad Pitt not only star in the film but also produce it was the icing on this corpse cake. The 2013 blockbuster brought a massive, worldwide zombie outbreak to the big screen, delivering some memorable sequences and a fresh take on the familiar undead formula. Naturally, fans were eager to see where the story would go next. Unfortunately, the film came and went, and a sequel remained nowhere in sight.
There was a reason for that. Production on World War Z was notoriously troubled, with extensive rewrites and reshoots eating into an already substantial budget. The film’s troubled development became almost as infamous as the zombie hordes themselves. Even Max Brooks, author of the novel Paramount acquired the rights to, made it clear that the movie shared very little with his original work beyond its title.
That history makes th;e prospect of World War Z 2 all the more interesting. Will the sequel suffer from the same production headaches that plagued its predecessor, or will it finally get its shambling legs underneath it for a sophomore effort? After years of false starts and uncertainty, we’re getting another encouraging sign that the project hasn’t been abandoned.
RELATED ARTICLE: Brad Pitt Returns for “WORLD WAR Z 2” With Edward Berger Directing
Speaking with Screen Off Script, director Edward Berger offered an update on the project. The filmmaker confirmed that work on the screenplay is moving forward, while making it clear that he doesn’t want to rush the sequel simply for the sake of getting it into production. The goal is to deliver something that lives up to the expectations fans have built over the years.
When asked whether the sequel could be his opportunity to step into big-budget filmmaking, Berger responded:
“ It could be. It could be. If we get the script right. We’re working on it, we’re working hard on it. We don’t want to disappoint the fans. We only want to bring something to the fans and to this idea that really furthers the story and the movie and really creates something new and can say something about our time. That’s definitely a commercial big film, you know, and we’d love to bring it to the screen.”
It’s certainly encouraging to hear that the project is still moving forward, particularly with Pitt’s potential return previously generating renewed interest in the sequel. As we reported earlier, the actor is expected to reprise his role, which would bring Gerry Lane back into the middle of another potentially catastrophic outbreak.
For now, there’s no production start date or release window, and it sounds like getting the screenplay right remains the biggest hurdle. Considering what happened behind the scenes of the first film, taking the time to get the story together might be the smartest move. After all, the last thing anyone wants is another World War Z production nightmare. We’ve already had enough of those. We’d much rather see the undead return with a sequel worth waiting for.
