In Hollywood, the state of a big-budget movie can change at the drop of a hat.
Take 2013's World War Z, for instance.
After a cavalcade of behind-the-scenes drama, it's a wonder that the project even made it
to theaters.
But once it did, the movie proved its worth by raking in roughly $540 million dollars
worldwide.
Similarly, the World War Z sequel has changed directors, screenwriters, has been assigned
multiple release dates, and was even pulled entirely from Paramount's release calendar.
So what exactly is the current state of the zombie sequel?
Here's everything we know about the follow-up to World War Z.
Brad's back
According to Variety, Pitt is returning for World War Z 2.
Given the first film's success, that may not necessarily seem like a surprise, but Pitt
hasn't really made a habit of appearing in sequels.
This time, regardless of the many projects he has on his plate, he's remained the star
and producer all along.
And it's a good thing he has his hands so tightly on the reins — without Pitt leading
the way, World War Z 2 would probably fall apart completely.
Mireille Enos
Another cast member returning is Mireille Enos, who played Pitt's wife in the original
film.
In a 2016 interview with Digital Spy, Enos confirmed her return, saying,
"There's been some shifting [with directors] and so the schedule's a bit up in the air,
but it's definitely happening, and I get to be in it."
When you look at Enos' recent work, it's clear she's been very busy in front of the camera.
Fortunately, it sounds like she's still committed to making it work once World War Z 2 production
is up and running.
Rewrites
In 2014, a year after World War Z hit theaters, The Wrap reported that screenwriter Steven
Knight was brought on board to pen the sequel.
Not long after Knight delivered a draft to Paramount, Variety reported that Dennis Kelly,
the creator of the U.K. conspiracy thriller series Utopia was hired to deliver a rewrite.
The highly anticipated sequel may be hitting the same type of speed bumps as the original
film, but it's a good sign that the team behind it appears to be focused on the quality of
the story.
Scheduling conflicts
The film's production schedule has definitely not been easy to lock down.
In January 2017, after multiple rewrites, The Hollywood Reporter reported Paramount's
move to pull the project from its release calendar.
This came after multiple efforts to push back the film's tentative release date from 2016
to a 2017 summer release.
According to Variety, production was once again rescheduled to late 2018 so Pitt could
work on Quentin Tarantino's Charles Manson-inspired film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
If all goes according to plan, audiences probably won't see another World War Z movie until
2020 — and that's just a guesstimate.
Fincher's entrance
Luckily, after the major setback of losing director J.A.
Bayona — who moved on to direct the next Jurassic World film — David Fincher jumped
into the zombie fray.
According to Variety, Pitt had been doing his best to persuade Fincher to take over
directing duties for some time.
Pitt and Fincher had developed a solid professional relationship over the years — working together
on Fight Club, Seven, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Fincher hasn't directed a sequel since 1992's Alien 3, and while his addition to the project
brings high expectations, his attention to story and characters would prove a welcome
departure.
The director told Collider in 2017,
"I don't care if the whole scene is five pages of two people in a car sipping coffee from
paper cups as long as there's a fascinating power dynamic and I learn something about
them."
Not a cash grab
When Fincher appeared on the Empire podcast to promote Mindhunter, he supplied a brief
update on the sequel's status.
Explaining their process in dissecting novelist Max Brooks' story, Fincher said,
"We're hoping to get a piece of material that's, you know, a reason to make a movie, not an
excuse to make a movie."
This may seem like a no-brainer, but in this day and age where big-budget blockbusters
focus more on jaw-dropping action sequences than character development or story, it's
an important detail.
The director further explained to Little White Lies,
"A lot of stones have been laid.
We're just deconstructing it right now against the mythology that exists to see where we
can go."
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