To absolutely no one’s surprise, there is new talk of sequels to this weekend’s big opener World War Z. The film was originally conceived as a franchise starter, but the hope of a trilogy seemed lost once the production ran into trouble and the cost ballooned to nearly $200 million. With an estimated $111.8 million worldwide this last weekend Paramount is putting the bug in audience members’ ear that Hey, you better go see this first one, because we might make another one.
The news comes from The Hollywood Reporter where most of the talk revolves around the support the film received from Brad Pitt, who not only starred in the film, but produced it through his Plan B productions. I’m not sure why everyone seems to be so thankful the actor/producer would so heavily support a project his company spent millions to produce, but I guess that’s… laudable?
Interestingly enough, I wonder if Pitt would be the figurehead of a sequel. Would they really spend this much money on a sequel?
Given the way author Max Brooks‘ novel is written, the sequel could be approached from several directions, most of which could continue the story of the zombie plague without Pitt being in the film at all.
For those that have seen it, the ending isn’t entirely conclusive, but not only that, a sequel could be developed to run parallel to the events in the first film, or perhaps the first half could run parallel and the second half could extend beyond the ending of the original. Either way, I’m sure they could figure out how to do it much cheaper. After all, cheaper is the only way I see this actually happening. In fact, I don’t see it happening at all.
World War Z did well at the box-office, yes. However, a “B+” CinemaScore isn’t a sign of complete audience support as you would normally want that grade to be higher, especially in summer. Not only that, $66 million isn’t $77 million, which is how much I Am Legend made back in 2007 ($89 million adjusted for inflation) with Will Smith starring, an actor, at the time, I would argue was far more bankable than Pitt and probably still is. Budget there was $150 million and the last time a sequel was discussed to that film was over a year ago.
Make World War Z: Rise of the Zombies for about $75 million and you might have a cause for action, but a sequel starring Brad Pitt, continuing on what we already saw seems like a lost cause.
