WORLD WAR Z may have found new life thanks to David Ellison's Skydance

As we reported, World War Z looked to be in trouble because it had such a hefty budget ($125 million) and no partners. Deadline reports that there have been some heavy talks going on with David Ellison's Skydance and as many as two other financiers to share the load on a movie that is gearing up for production as soon as June. The plan would still have Brad Pitt set to star and Marc Forster to direct the adaptation Max Brooks' novel World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War.  The book is about the "aftermath of a global zombie war 10 years after the conflict, with a researcher for the UN Postwar Commission interviewing survivors in countries that were decimated by flesh eaters." 

As a fan of zombie movies I personally have no problem for many zombie films, but general audiences may tire of the oversaturation of the market from Hollywood. Right now there are a ton of awesome zombie projects that are either going into production or in development. In total there are probably more than 20 films with a realistic chance of getting made over the next few years, with story lines that twist the genre in directions that are new for zombies.

Summit's move to set Nicholas Hoult as a hunky zombie heartthrob in Warm Bodies to Lionsgate's period adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith Jane Austen novel send-up Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, to Universal's Robert Schwentke-directed R.I.P.D. (Ryan Reynolds and possibly Zach Galifianakis in an action comedy about a force of undead police officers). There are new installments of 28 Days Later, Zombieland and Resident Evil in the works. Jonah Hill is attached to direct The Kitchen Sink, where a zombie, vampire and human teen teams to fight invading aliens. There is Paul is Undead (a satire that re-imagines Beatles lore with the Fab Four as zombies); Sony Pictures' just made a deal to turn the comic Zombies Vs Robots into a film with Michael Bay and his Platinum Dunes cohorts; and WWZ studio Paramount is playing the  genre for laughs with Boy Scouts Vs. Zombies, where scouts battle the flesh eaters. TV is also getting into act, after AMC's awesomely good first season of The Walking Dead. The CW has a zombie series called Awakening, and there will surely be others. 

Are you excited about the possibility of World War Z coming back to life? What are your thoughts of the zombie films lined up?

No author bio. End of line.
GeekTyrant Homepage