The American zombie film, available on Netflix, was so successful when it was released in theaters that sequels were considered. But despite several directors being considered, the project is finally buried.
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World War Z, which debuted on Netflix in July 2013, is now considered the most profitable zombie film in the history of cinema! Marc Foster’s film is set against the backdrop of a pandemic. The strange disease that turns men into zombies now threatens all of humanity. After Gerry Lane, a former UN investigator, hosts his family, he agrees to go on a mission to the affected countries to find out the origin of the virus. The film, starring Brad Pitt, was a real box office success, grossing $202 million in the United States and $337 million internationally. In France, World War Z reached 2.444 million visitors. Given the film’s worldwide success, a sequel was quickly considered. Marc Forster and Paramount initially envisioned World War Z as a trilogy.
World War Z: Several directors took turns on the sequel, but it never saw the light of day
However, the director of the first part was not chosen for the sequel. As of December 2013, Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona was preferred. A few months later, in May 2014, Steven Knight was hired to write the script. In May 2015, a date for the sequel was announced: June 9, 2017. However, in January 2016, Paramount announced that the Spanish director had left the project. David Fincher quickly took over the helm of this sequel in June 2017. That same year, Brad Pitt was confirmed for the role of Gerry Lane.
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World War Z: China responsible for not making a sequel?
On February 8, 2017, Paramount announced that filming on the sequel had not yet begun and would not be released until 2018 or even 2019. The team was waiting for David Fincher to finish the second season of his Mindhunter series. A year and a half later, we finally realized that the idea of a sequel had been abandoned. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the decision was due to the Chinese government’s ban on films featuring zombies or ghosts. According to other rumors from Indiewire, it would be the XXL budget that would be in question. In any case, and despite its status as the most popular zombie film, World War Z will therefore not have a sequel in theaters.
Article written in collaboration with 6Medias