We had almost written off World War Z 2 when Paramount had pulled it from its production schedule after a long, long development process, but the studio is in fact gearing up to get the zombie apocalypse going again and under very exciting new direction.
Variety reports that the great David Fincher is “close to” a deal to direct the sequel to Marc Forster’s 2013 film, which endured a tortuous and much-reported production hell before emerging as a surprisingly profitable and surprisingly enjoyable action movie.
Fincher has been linked with the film for a while now but it didn’t really seem like anything was going to come of it, partly because he’s not exactly known for jumping into other franchises since Alien 3, and partly because he’s so incredibly busy.
However, he’s had two series fall apart on HBO (the remake of Utopia and 1980s music video comedy Videosynchrazy) and, having shot the pilot episode of his Netflix FBI show Mind Hunters, Fincher apparently has a gap in his schedule and his old pal Pitt’s attempts to convince him to jump on board seem to have been successful.
As per Variety, “Sources say that Fincher, who is weary of sequels, having aired his displeasure during his time on Alien 3, has always been open to listening to Pitt when the actor reaches out. The duo nearly collaborated on a reboot of 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea for Disney a few years ago, but that project never move forward.”
While the film isn’t officially back in production yet, it looks like it’s just a matter of time before we get the Official word that it’s back on, and Variety claims an early 2018 production start date looks likely. Apparently part of the reason for the delay was due to Pitt taking some time off for personal reasons, but it has also gone through a bit of a struggle to get going, with director JA Bayona signing up then dropping out. Eastern Promises writer Steven Knight is the man behind the script, while Utopia‘s Dennis Kelly rewrote it.
The first film starred Pitt as scientist Gerry Lane, who was shuttled around the world to find a cure for the zombie outbreak as it happened. The production stories from the movie are incredible (everything from unpaid bills to an entire third act being scrapped), so fingers crossed for a smoother ride this time around.
Keep up with the latest genre news with the new issue of SciFiNow.
